Twitter To Re-Examine Elon Musk's $43B Takeover Bid: Report

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is re-examining a $43 billion takeover bid from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and could be more receptive to negotiating a deal, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The two sides are meeting Sunday after Musk announced last week he had $46.5 billion in funding lined up for his bid, according to the report.

Twitter is expected to comment on the bid during a report on financial results Thursday, but it's possible executives could discuss the deal sooner, sources told the Journal.

Twitter had been expected to decline the offer when Musk, the richest man in the world, initially made the bid on April 14 without providing financing details.

Twitter's board voted unanimously to adopt a limited duration shareholder rights plan, colloquially known as a poison pill, to help stave off a hostile takeover the day after Musk made the bid. Under the plan, if any person or entity acquires at least 15 percent of Twitter’s outstanding common stock without board approval, other shareholders can purchase additional shares at a discount.

In a recent regulatory filing, Twitter said Musk has become the company's largest shareholder and offered to buy the company's remaining shares for $54.20 per share.

"I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy," Musk said in the filing. "However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company."

After declining an offer to join Twitter's board on the condition he not accumulate more than a 14.9-percent share, Musk sent several since-deleted tweets proposing major changes to the company, including dropping ads and even transforming its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter.

But Musk left clues on Twitter about his intentions. He "liked" a tweet summarizing the events as Musk going from "largest shareholder for Free Speech" to being "told to play nice and not speak freely."

Musk also is facing a lawsuit accusing him of delaying reporting his large share in the company at the regulatory deadline of 5 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.