Not if the deal goes through. Twitter has $X on the balance sheet. Twitter gives $X to Elon’s acquisition company. Now Twitter is worth $X less. The acquisition company now transfers the preciously agreed $44B to Twitter shareholders in exchange for all Twitter shares. The risk is he stiffs them.

Yeah, what Ben said. It wouldn't actually impact the actual price if the deal went through. It would just mean that the company had less cash in its bank account when Elon took over (the amount he was short, so it evens out) But it creates massive risk if the deal fails.