Elon Musk could end up with a $33.5 billion bill after scaring off investors from Twitter Business

Elon Musk faces having to find $33.5bn (£26.8m) in cash to fund his takeover of Twitter after he scared off financiers by saying the deal was ‘on hold’.

Mr Musk announced his intention to buy the social network for $44 billion in April, but the billionaire’s machinations have left backers uncertain whether a deal will be signed.

Although nominally one of the richest men in the world, Mr Musk’s wealth is largely tied to his 15% stake in Tesla, meaning he has relatively little cash at hand.

Tesla’s chief executive could be held liable for up to $33.5 billion in cash due to the financiers’ chill over the Twitter deal, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the arrangements.

For Mr. Musk, generating more cash comes either from equity financing or from selling shares. Having already liquidated $8.5 billion worth of Tesla stock, Mr Musk is said to have been in talks with a group of private equity firms led by Apollo Global Management. Those talks have now been suspended.

Neither Mr Musk, Twitter nor Apollo would comment on the talks being suspended, Reuters reported.

Mr. Musk’s commitment to buying Twitter has gone up and down. After initial enthusiasm, combined with tweets about the social media site’s moderation practices, he accused Twitter executives of trying to cover up the number of fake accounts on the service.

Twitter public figures say that’s around 5% of its 330 million monthly active users, while Mr Musk argues the actual figure is higher than that.

Twitter boss Parag Agrawal defended the company’s calculations but, according to Mr. Musk, refused to make his methodology available to the SpaceX contractor.

Mr. Musk’s lawyer told Twitter on Monday: “While Twitter is confident in its published spam estimates, Mr. Musk does not understand the company’s reluctance to allow Mr. Musk to evaluate these estimates in a way independent.”

Some have speculated that Mr. Musk’s derogatory public comments about the number of spam accounts are an attempt to drive Twitter’s price down from its current bid of $54.20 per share.

A previous $12.5 billion margin loan secured against Tesla was then halved before being completely scrapped in late May, filings show, even as the Tesla boss raised equity pledges for 30 .5 billion dollars.

If the Twitter purchase fails, the offending party must pay a $1 billion termination fee, according to regulatory filings between Mr. Musk and the company.