Twitter's board of directors unanimously recommended that shareholders approve the sale of the company to billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk for $44 billion, Reuters reported.

Musk reiterated his desire to move forward with an acquisition last week during a virtual meeting with Twitter employees, though Twitter's stock remains well below the offer price, indicating considerable doubt that it will happen.

The company's stock rose about 3 percent to $38.98 before the start of trading Tuesday, well below the $54.20 per share Musk offered for each share. The last time the company's stock reached that level was 5 April, when it offered Musk a board seat before he offered to buy all of Twitter.

 If the deal were closed now, the company's investors would see a gain of $15.22 per share owned.