NEW YORK: Twitter shares rose sharply Monday amid reports the company will soon accept Elon Musk’s takeover offer, a dramatic shift after the board originally organized a “poison pill” defense to ward off the billionaire entrepreneur’s hostile buyout bid.

The deal, which media outlets including The Wall Street Journal reported could be announced later in the day, would put the Tesla boss in charge of the influential social media site that is perhaps best known for at one time being the platform of choice for former US president Donald Trump.

About 20 minutes into trading, Twitter shares were up 3.6 percent amid an otherwise downbeat day in New York, where the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 were all in the red by under one percent.

Musk had earlier this month launched his $43 billion hostile takeover bid for the company, casting it as a promotion of freedom of speech.