And the farce goes on...

Tesla stock is trading higher after hours following reports from CNBC that the board of directors of the carmaker plan to meet with financial advisors next week to formalize a process to explore CEO Elon Musk’s offer to take the company private.

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In additional reporting, they note that the board is likely to tell Musk to recuse himself as the company prepares to review his proposal.

Taking the company private at $420 a share would value it at around $71 billion.

A Barclays note said such a buyout would require about $70 billion: roughly $60 billion for equity and about $10 billion to take out debt. The note said, "With 145 million shares, a buyout at $420/share would require $60 billion to take out all public shareholders. Even with the Saudi fund taking a 3 percent to 5 percent stake, that leaves a large funding gap. And credit markets may not be that receptive".

Such a deal would represent the largest leveraged buyout in history, surpassing the $45 billion acquisition of the Texas energy giant TXU (Energy Future Holdings) in 2007, which eventually went bankrupt. 

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The Board has reportedly told Musk he needs his own separate set of advisers.