Elon Musk Puts Twitter Deal Temporarily On Hold

Elon Musk on Friday put his $44-billion deal for Twitter Inc temporarily on hold

Shares of the social media company fell 17.7% to $37.10 in premarket trading, their lowest level since Musk disclosed his stake in the company in early April

[{"selector":"#anim-828a4336-af27-4f4e-9114-5734563740b1","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-eed9e27d-a1f0-4fb6-b2ea-64b93313ca8c","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-120.06803%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

The implied probability of the deal closing at the agreed price fell below 50% for the first time on Tuesday, when Twitter shares dropped below $46.75.

[{"selector":"#anim-ce905b3c-07fb-4a44-8242-ed102569de6b","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-f827124f-86a3-4eb4-8fcf-99573d3b33d5","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-115.87301%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

Twitter had earlier this month estimated that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users

[{"selector":"#anim-f68adb4a-f1d1-4c04-bd81-ed662d38b6b4","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-b534786d-e752-4e76-b31b-a1d51a6070ce","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-115.2381%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

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

[{"selector":"#anim-f1d198e8-3633-48de-9119-10e20c8aa701","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-339124f4-e72b-4f45-b20c-589bc23b25ab","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-115.2381%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-d5f9b2de-1947-4eb1-b1d3-bb1972113730 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate(4.731564078856803%, -6.0661782498533885%) scale(0.8771929824561403)","translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":6000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"forwards"}]

Musk, the world's richest man and a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist, had said that one of his priorities would be to remove "spam bots" from the platform.

[{"selector":"#anim-ef6300f4-d7b3-497e-8594-8cd43ef4e1fd","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-24a1037a-81e7-40e2-9771-d1c91b1b991b","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-115.55555%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-715c17fd-a9c2-4962-90e4-28beb75f2109 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate(-0.42664354012545097%, 9.016392945249093%) scale(0.819672131147541)","translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":6000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"forwards"}]