Musk Nears $43 Billion Deal for Twitter as Soon as Monday

Twitter Inc. is in the final stretch of negotiations about a $43 billion sale to Elon Musk that could rank as one of the biggest-ever leveraged buyouts of a listed company, people with knowledge of the matter said, placing an influential blogging platform under control of the world’s richest person.

An agreement would cap a monthslong saga that saw Musk amass a stake of about 9%, launch a fusillade of criticism at Twitter’s management, turn down a chance to join the company’s board and then announce a $54.20-a-share offer that many people initially viewed as a weed joke. Twitter was cool on the proposal at first, adopting a so-called poison pill defense that would effectively dilute Musk’s stake, but warmed to the notion after Musk outlined a $25.5 billion debt financing plan from Morgan Stanley and a who’s who of other global investment banks. Talks accelerated over the weekend.