Elon Musk's decision to pull a $44 billion deal for Twitter could see Wall Street's top banks lose hundreds of millions of dollars, scuppering one of 2022's biggest pay days.

The billionaire said on Friday that he intended to end his agreement to acquire the social-media company due to its disclosure of false and misleading numbers.

Roughly 5% of users on its platforms are considered to be fake. Musk used the belief that it's much higher than 5% as a weapon to kill the deal.

A number of banks could be hurt by his decision.

According to data from Re, Morgan Stanley could pocket almost $192 million in fees, the largest earnings for an M&A deal this year, and the third-biggest since 2020.

If the deal closes, most of the fees can be collected, but the investment banks will only claim a small amount. Insider has learned that bankers are interested in seeing Musk kiss and make up on social media.

The acquisition for Musk was supported by $13 billion in loans. Many of the debt was going to be syndicated to third-party investors in the form of high-yield bonds.

The bankers involved in the financing of the deal told Insider that if the deal is called off, it will ruin a nine-figure sum for them.

The acquisition isn't over yet, according to one of the bankers who participated in the debt financing. He thinks the legal process will take a long time and that Musk could lose.

A legal nightmare is facing the billionaire. The deal is going to be forced to close by the lawsuit. The courts rarely rule in favor of buyers when it comes to voiding transactions.

The deal would have cost Musk $1 billion. Musk can complete the transaction if the court finds that other conditions are relevant to the deal.

'When you're the richest man in the world, you can mess around with anyone'

It took only six days for Morgan Stanley to get the banks on board for Musk's deal.

Musk shrugged off the company's lack of cash flow as he agreed to a deal without looking at the financials.

When a man with Musk's money comes along, investment banks will move mountains to give him what he wants.

He's a multi-billion dollar man. He effectively controls the $780 billion electric vehicle maker. He's the owner of the company. If the space company goes public, every bank on Wall Street will want to be involved.

The first senior bankers said that when you're the richest man in the world, you can mess with anyone. The banks will moan about it, but they will probably be there for the next deal. The nature of the trade is that.

With Musk likely to go to court, bankers are hoping the deal goes through. In a poor year for M&A and capital-markets dealmaking, it will be a nice fee.