Elon Musk and Twitter are nearing a deal over his $43 billion takeover offer, reports say

• Twitter is nearing a deal with Elon Musk over his $43 billion takeover offer, multiple reports said.
• A deal could be finalized as soon as Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Twitter is nearing a deal with Elon Musk over his $43 billion offer to acquire the social-media company, according to multiple reports.

The two sides met Sunday to discuss the deal proposed by Musk, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times reported, each citing people familiar with the matter. An agreement could be finalized as soon as Monday, but there's no guarantee a deal will be sealed, The Journal said.

The deal talks represent a significant thawing of Twitter's earlier position on Musk's bid. On Monday last week, the company laid out a "poison pill" defense to block Musk's offer. By Thursday, Musk had detailed financing plans to secure as much as $46.5 billion in financing, which prompted Twitter's board to seriously consider his offer, sources told The New York Times.

Twitter executives met Sunday to reexamine Musk's takeover offer before talks began with the billionaire, Reuters reported.

Twitter declined to comment.

Negotiations between Musk and the board ran into the early hours of Monday, and Twitter was nearing a deal with Musk, though the situation was fluid, The Times reported, citing two sources.

Twitter has not secured a "go-shop" agreement allowing the company to solicit other bids after a deal is signed, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, said in a note to clients Sunday that Wall Street would interpret news of the deal talks as "the beginning of the end for Twitter as a public company, with Musk likely now on a path to acquire the company unless a second bidder comes into the mix."

Ives added: "The board could officially reject Musk's bid and then a hostile tender offer will likely begin this week, putting further pressure on the board with their back against the wall in this Game of Thrones battle for Twitter."

Musk has made cryptic references to a tender offer, which would involve him appealing directly to shareholders to buy up their stock above market price and circumvent Twitter's board.

This month, Musk disclosed he held a 9.2% stake in Twitter. Soon after, he offered to buy Twitter outright for $54.20 a share.

The Tesla billionaire said he was motivated to buy Twitter because he believed Twitter didn't support "free speech" as a public company.

Musk has established three holding companies that appear to be part of his plan to acquire Twitter.