Twitter Shares Drop 19% as Elon Musk Says $44B Acquisition Deal 'Temporarily on Hold'

Elon Musk said that his $44 billion Twitter acquisition would be put on hold in order to determine how many users are indeed "fake accounts."

By Liam J. Kelly

Elon Musk. 

Twitter stock has plummeted more than 19% premarket after Elon Musk said that his $44 billion acquisition of the platform would be put "temporarily on hold."

"Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users," he tweeted today, citing a May 2 report from Reuters regarding estimated bot activity on the social media platform.

Shortly after making this announcement, Musk again turned to Twitter to say that he was "still committed to acquisition (sic)."

Eliminating spam and bot activity was one of the primary objectives for the SpaceX and Tesla chief when discussing his ambitions for Twitter. He also said that he plans to make Twitter's code open-source on GitHub and add an edit feature, among other ideas.

Today's news follows a long saga linking the social media platform, the controversial entrepreneur, and, of course, cryptocurrencies.

Musk's Twitter saga

Elon Musk first bought just a 9.2% stake in Twitter on April 4, before making a formal bid just weeks later for 100% control over the social media platform. Twitter formally accepted the offer on April 25 despite the board invoking a "poison pill" to block the deal.

Outside of the above-mentioned features, Musk has also discussed integrating Dogecoin as a payment option for Twitter's premium services, adding to his reputation as one of Dogecoin's most influential voices.

During a TED talk in Vancouver, Canada, Musk was asked if he regretted his repeated pumping of Dogecoin.

His response: “I think they’re fun, and I’ve always said, ‘Don’t bet the farm on Dogecoin.’”

The crypto connections don't stop there either.

In an updated 13D filing to the SEC, it was revealed that crypto's largest exchange Binance had helped finance Musk's Twitter bid to the tune of $500 million. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao took to Twitter to share the news, calling it "a small contribution to the cause."

Other notable backers included Fidelity ($316 million), Qatar Holdings ($375 billion), and Andreessen Horowitz ($400 million).

The largest investment in the group was Larry Ellison's $1 billion commitment.