Tesla’s sharp decline this week has raised questions about whether Mr Musk will be able to keep a $ 46 billion financial stake together, partly tied to his stake in the electric car company.
“Some doubts are creeping into the deal as Street speculates and the $ 1 billion break-up fee revealed shows Musk could leave with minimal damage to him,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. “This is not a deal in the eyes of Wall Street.”
Shares of Twitter fell to $ 47.86, 12% below the agreed takeover price, before recovering slightly.
Further doubts about the deal emerged after Mr Musk questioned the decisions taken by Twitter, although he pledged not to criticize the company or its executives until the deal was completed.
Mr Musk “will be allowed to post tweets about the merger … as long as such tweets do not humiliate the company or one of its representatives”, according to a US dossier.
However, Mr Musk called Twitter’s decision to block the New York Post’s story about Joe Biden Hunter’s son in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election “incredibly inappropriate”.
“The suspension of a major news organization’s Twitter account was clearly incredibly inappropriate,” he tweeted in response to a decision made in part by Vijaya Gade, one of Twitter’s top executives.
Ms Gade reportedly burst into tears when she briefed her team on Mr Musk’s takeover in a video interview on Monday. A Twitter spokesman said Gade “becomes emotional when he discusses the impact of his team and the pride he feels in them.”
The sharp drop in Tesla’s share price could cause Mr Musk to face restrictions on how much he can borrow against the company’s shares. Shares of Tesla fell 12% on Tuesday, wiping more than $ 125 billion.
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