TWTR - Former Disney CEO says big portion of Twitter users were `not real' in 2016

Former Disney ( DIS ) CEO Bob Iger said that the entertainment giant found that a lot of Twitter ( NYSE: TWTR ) users were "not real" when he weighed a purchase of the social media company back in 2016.

Iger said that Disney ( DIS ) and Twitter ( TWTR ) boards were prepared to engage in talks when he got cold feet, Iger said at the Code Conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, according to a Reuters recounting of his comments.  He said that he found that a "substantial portion" of Twitter users were fake.

"I remember discounting the value" because of the fake issue, Iger said at the conference.

Iger's remarks comes as billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk battles with Twitter ( TWTR ) as he attempts to get out of his $44 billion purchase of the company, where he has used fake accounts as one of main reasons to try to exit the deal.

Musk saw a setback in his legal fight with Twitter on Wednesday when the Delaware judge presiding in Twitter v. Musk denied Musk's request to delay the trial, but granted his request to add whistleblower claims to his countersuit against the company he agreed to buy.

The two sides are now cruising toward a five-day trial to resolve Musk's $44B deal to acquire Twitter, still set to begin Oct. 17 .

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