Elon Musk has suggested buying Ryanair, escalating a public feud with the airline's chief executive, Michael O'Leary. The exchange began after O'Leary dismissed installing Musk's Starlink satellite internet on Ryanair's fleet, citing a projected 2% fuel drag costing up to $250m (£185m) annually.
O'Leary described Musk as "an idiot" on Irish radio, prompting Musk to call for his firing and label him "misinformed". Musk then posted a poll on X asking whether he should "buy Ryan Air and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge", with over 75% of nearly 900,000 respondents voting yes.
Ryanair's X account mocked Musk during a US outage, posting: "Perhaps you need Wi-Fi @elonmusk?" Musk replied: "How much would it cost to buy you?" The billionaire previously acquired Twitter after a similar exchange in 2017, completing the $44bn deal in 2022.
Investors appeared unfazed, with Ryanair shares closing nearly 1% lower. The airline, valued at €30bn (£26bn), is Europe's largest by passenger numbers. EU rules require majority ownership by EU nationals, potentially complicating any takeover by Musk, a South African-born US resident.
O'Leary, 64, said he is "thankfully" too old for social media. The row erupted when he rejected Wi-Fi installation, arguing passengers would not pay for internet access and that the fuel cost outweighs benefits.
