Musk included a ten-day old Reuters article in his tweet, which reported that Twitter had said in a regulatory filing that fake or spam accounts represented less than 5% of its user base.
“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk tweeted.
A little over two hours later Musk tweeted again saying: “Still committed to acquisition.”
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note sent to Insider: “Many will view this as Musk using this Twitter filing/spam accounts as a way to get out of this deal in a vastly changing market.”
Shares in Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla have fallen around 25% since Musk announced his plans to buy Twitter. Tesla stock rose more than 5% after Musk announced the deal was on hold.
Ives said the fact Musk revealed he was putting the deal on hold with a tweet rather than a regulatory filing was “troubling” and had the effect of turning the Twitter deal into a “circus show.”
Twitter did not immediately respond to the news when contacted by Insider.
This is a developing story…
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