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Twitter may be getting closer to a deal with Elon Musk.

The social media service’s board met Sunday morning to discuss Mr. Musk’s situation. unsolicited $46.5 billion offer to buy the company after starting to line up financing For the offer he made last week, two people said they were aware of the situation. The funding was a turning point in how Twitter’s board viewed Mr. Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share, prompting the company’s 11 board members to seriously consider his offer.

Twitter’s board said it plans to meet with Mr Musk’s side later Sunday to discuss other lines around a potential deal, people speaking on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to discuss confidential information. These details include a timeline for closing any potential deals and fees that will be paid if a deal breaks after it is signed.

Any deal is far from certain, but the Twitter board’s willingness to engage with the world’s richest man, Mr. Musk, represents a step forward. Musk, who has more than 83 million followers on Twitter and started collecting shares in the company earlier this year, announced his intention to buy the company and take it private on April 14. But his proposal was quickly rejected by Wall Street because it was unclear whether he could do it. find the money to make a deal. on twitter adopted a “poison pill” It’s a defensive maneuver that will prevent Mr. Musk from hoarding more of the company’s stock.

Mr. Musk updated his proposal last week, pressing Twitter to consider it more seriously. In a securities filing made public on Thursday, Mr. Musk detailed how he pooled financing from investment bank Morgan Stanley and a group of other lenders. 13 billion dollars debt financing, plus another $12.5 billion in loans against its shares in Tesla, the electric car maker it operates. was expected to add. 21 billion dollars in equity financing.

Now, a deal that seems so improbable may be more likely. People familiar with the situation said the situation, involving Twitter and Mr. Musk, was fluid and moving fast.

A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment. The company said in previous public statements that the board “continues to conduct a careful, thorough and deliberate review to determine the course of action that is in the best interests of the company and all Twitter shareholders.”

Mr Musk did not respond to a request for comment. Wall Street Journal previously reported Twitter’s growing responsiveness to Mr. Musk’s proposal.

Wall Street was likely to see Twitter’s board being open to Mr Musk’s offer as “the beginning of the end for Twitter as a public company,” and Musk is likely on track to buy the company unless a second bidder enters the mix. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note Sunday.

Musk’s bid for Twitter is a 54 percent premium over the stock price the day before he started investing in the company in late January. But Twitter’s shares have traded higher than Mr. Musk’s bid for most of last year.

Several analysts said they only expect the Twitter board to accept an offer worth at least $60 per share. Twitter’s stock jumped to over $70 per share last year when the company announces its goals to double its revenuebut it has since dropped to about $48 as investors question its ability to meet these goals.

Mr. Musk, 50, has made it clear that he sees many shortcomings in Twitter as a social media service. He said he wanted to “transform” the company into “a worldwide platform for freedom of expression” and that this would require major improvements in its products and policies.

Mr Musk tried to negotiate with Twitter using the service itself, threatening in several tweets that he could take his bid directly to the company’s shareholders in what has been called a “tender offer.” A tender offer is a hostile maneuver in which an outside party circumvents the company’s board of directors by asking shareholders to sell their shares directly to them.

He’s also been erratic on the platform, raising concerns about how he might manage the service if he were to be held responsible. On Saturday, Mr. Musk billionaire targeted Bill GatesBy saying that Gates took a “short” position on Tesla stock, it meant that Mr Gates was betting that the automaker’s shares would fall. On Sunday, Mr. Musk said, “activeMaking fun of Mr. Gates.

Despite this, Mr. Musk maintains friendly relations with some of Twitter’s senior members. Mr. Musk tweeted amicably with Jack Dorsey, the company’s co-founder and board member, over the weekend. Mr. Dorsey stepped down as Twitter’s CEO in November and will soon be leaving the board.

Both men share similar views on cryptocurrencies and promoting more free speech online. When Mr. Musk briefly flirted by joining Twitter’s board this month, Mr. Dorsey tweeted out“I’m really happy to have Elon join the Twitter board! He cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s role in it.”

On Friday, Block, a financial services firm led by Mr. Dorsey, announced that it had changed its title at the company from CEO to “Block Head.” This change seemed to resonate with Mr. Musk.

“Your new title on the Block is fire,” Mr Musk said on Saturday, using two flame emojis to signal his approval to Mr. Dorsey. Last year, Mr. Musk changed his title at Tesla from CEO to CEO. technology.