Elon Musk Twitter deal financing put on hold over threats: report

Elon Musk's bid to purchase Twitter has been put on hold over concerns about his ability to arrange new financing that would limit his cash contribution to the $44 billion acquisition amid his threats to walk away from the deal, according to media reports. 

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO has threatened to walk away from the deal over Twitter's alleged refusal to provide him information about spam bots and fake accounts on the social media platform.  

In a letter to Twitter on Monday, Musk's lawyers wrote they have repeatedly asked for the information since May 9, about a month after his offer to buy the company, so he could evaluate how many of the company’s 229 million accounts are fake.

Musk has long been fixated on Twitter's bot problem as a reflection of the platform's true value. He has more than 97 million followers.

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Twitter said in a statement Monday that it has been cooperatively sharing information with Musk "in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement" and noted that the deal is in "the best interest of all shareholders."

"We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms," it added.

Musk is on the hook to pay $33.5 billion to fund the deal, Reuters reported. He has been in discussions to arrange $2 billion to $3 billion on preferred equity financing from a group of private equity firms to fund the Twitter purchase. 

A source told the news outlet those discussions are on hold until there is more clarity about the future of the purchase. 

A Twitter spokesperson told Fox Business the company had no comment. Fox Business also reached out to Apollo Global Management, the firm the group of equity firms involved in the financing of the deal. 

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.