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(BBC) – Elon Musk has said his US$44bn (£35bn) deal to buy Twitter is on hold after he queried the number of fake or spam accounts on the social media platform.
He said he was waiting for information “supporting [the] calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users”.
Mr Musk added later that he was “still committed to [the] acquisition”.
However, analysts speculated he could be seeking to renegotiate the price or even walk away from the takeover.
Mr Musk’s tweets sent Twitter’s share price plunging 10% in morning trade in New York.
Even before his comments, the company’s stock had been selling for less than the $54.20 per share Mr Musk has offered, a sign that the markets were not convinced he would complete the buyout.
“The nature of Musk creating so much uncertainty in a tweet (and not a filing) is very troubling to us… and now sends this whole deal into a circus show with many questions and no concrete answers as to the path of this deal going forward.”
Mr Musk has been vocal about “defeating the spam bots”, identifying it as a key goal following his planned takeover of the company.
Twitter has long faced accusations of not doing enough to address automated, fake accounts posting content.
In a filing more than two weeks ago, Twitter estimated that fake accounts accounted for fewer than 5% of its daily active users during the first three months of this year. It cautioned that the figures were based on estimates and could be higher.
The number of spambots on the service is a key statistic, as a higher than expected figure could hurt the ability to grow advertising revenue or paid-for subscriptions, said Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
But she said it was not clear how genuine Mr Musk’s concerns were.
“There will also be questions raised over whether fake accounts are the real reason behind this delaying tactic, given that promoting free speech rather than focusing on wealth creation appeared to be his primary motivation for the takeover,” she said.
“The [US]$44bn price tag is huge, and it may be a strategy to row back on the amount he is prepared to pay to acquire the platform.”
Weeks of market turmoil in the US have wiped billions off the value of many companies – including once favoured tech firms.
