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Elon Musk Explained Why He’s Put His Twitter Acquisition On Hold, And People Aren’t Exactly Buying It

Elon Musk‘s purchase of Twitter just took a major hit, which is reigniting speculation that the whole thing was just a giant troll. Early Friday morning, Musk announced that the deal is on hold because he now doesn’t believe the social media’s numbers on the amount of fake accounts.

“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.” Musk tweeted. “Still committed to acquisition.”

Musk’s announcement arrives on the heels of both a cryptocurrency crash and news that Twitter shares have dropped significantly below Musk’s purchase price. Musk’s announcement that the deal is on hold caused Twitter shares to drop even further, and analysts now believe Musk is using Twitter’s disclosure on fake accounts to weasel out of the deal. His leveraging of Tesla never quite made sense, and now, that calculus is proving to be even more precarious. Via The Wall Street Journal:

The tweets come as many big tech stocks have been falling on Wall Street, including shares of Tesla, which are down 29% over the past month. Mr. Musk is using his Tesla holdings to help fund the Twitter deal. Meanwhile, Twitter’s stock price had traded below Mr. Musk’s offer price as investors wondered if the deal might get reworked or not get done.

Mr. Musk might be using Twitter’s recent disclosure as a means to get out of or renegotiate the deal, said Daniel Ives, a technology analyst at Wedbush Securities. One reason is the impact on Tesla shares since the deal was announced.

While analysts hedge their bets on Musk’s next move, actual Twitter users are being a bit more blunt. Musk is currently being roasted for announcing that the purchase is hold (#ElonsProblems started trending shortly thereafter) and a significant amount of people are convinced Musk was never really going to buy the site in the first place.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Wall Street Journal)