This is Why Elon Musk’s $44B Acquisition of Twitter is ‘On Hold’

According to billionaire Elon Musk, his highly anticipated $44 billion dollar deal to buy Twitter is “temporarily on hold” for a specific reason.

In a tweet posted Friday, the Tesla and SpaceX founder cited spam or fake accounts on the social media platform as the reason.

Musk pointed to a Reuters report from earlier this month on Twitter estimating that less than 5% of its accounts are fake.

“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk wrote.

Shares of Twitter plunged 8.5% in midday trading Friday as Wall Street digested the news.

In a subsequent tweet, the billionaire said he remained “committed to acquisition.”

Earlier this week Twitter had fired two of its top managers. Twitter said the company is pausing most hiring, except for crucial roles, and is “pulling back on non-labor costs to ensure we are being responsible and efficient.”

The tweet could generate a negative reaction from Wall Street, which could view it as either a way for Musk to get out of buying Twitter or look to negotiate for a lower price, argued Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives.

“The nature of Musk creating so much uncertainty in a tweet (and not a filing) is very troubling,” Ives wrote in an investor note Friday.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.