Musk floats buying Ryanair after week-long internet feud over Starlink internet

The war of words between Elon Musk and the boss of Europe’s largest discount airline went into its second week, with the tech billionaire hinting he might buy the carrier after their fight over satellite internet.

Musk put up a poll on X Monday asking people whether he should buy Ryanair and “restore Ryan as their rightful ruler.”

Earlier that day, he asked how much the airline would cost and again said the company needs to get rid of Michael O’Leary, who has run the carrier since its early days. Tony Ryan started the company back in 1984.

Things kicked off last week when O’Leary said he won’t put SpaceX’s Starlink internet on Ryanair planes. He worried about burning more fuel because of the antenna’s weight and how it affects airflow on the outside of the aircraft.

Musk said O’Leary didn’t know what he was talking about, and the airline boss shot back by saying “I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk. He’s an idiot, very wealthy, but he’s still an idiot.”

Musk hit back, calling O’Leary an “utter idiot” who should lose his job.

Both men have shaken up their industries by taking big risks and speaking their minds.

O’Leary has run Ryanair for more than 30 years, growing it from a small local airline into the biggest discount carrier in Europe. He just got a big bonus for hitting certain targets with the stock, which jumped 55% last year. O’Leary is also set to get a €100 million bonus in 2028 if he hits his targets, but his wealth is still nowhere near Musk’s.

Musk controls a huge chunk of the electric car market with Tesla and changed how space launches work with SpaceX.

Ryanair shares went up 2.3% on Tuesday. The company is worth around €30 billion ($35 billion), three times bigger than Deutsche Lufthansa, the largest airline group in the region.

Echoes of Twitter purchase

This is all happening while Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is getting heat over reports that people are making inappropriate sexual images of others on X without permission. Ireland wants to deal with AI image problems in European law during its time leading the EU later this year, Irish media said Monday.

When Musk asked Ryanair, “How much would it cost to buy you?”, it brought back memories of something similar in 2017. After saying he loved Twitter in December that year, a journalist joked he should buy it. “How much is it?” Musk replied.

He brought up that old chat almost five years later, posting an upside-down smiley face days after making a surprise buyout offer. Musk ended up paying $44 billion for Twitter and cut staff across the board, including senior executives.

Buying an airline isn’t simple

The billionaire is known for going after executives and companies on social media. When he was buying Twitter, he kept criticizing how the company ran things and what its CEO was doing.

Musk has asked his followers about all kinds of things before. Should Tesla take Dogecoin for cars? Should he sell some of his Tesla shares? He actually did sell shares at the end of 2021.

After getting Twitter stock in 2022, he asked users if they wanted an edit button for tweets. He floated the idea of turning the San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter. He asked what people thought about bringing back Vine, the short video service.

Months after asking if he should quit as head of the company, Musk brought in Linda Yaccarino to take over as CEO in May 2023.

British Airways owner IAG gave up on buying Spanish carrier Air Europa in 2024 because of competition worries. Spirit Aviation Holdings and Frontier Group Holdings have had trouble trying to merge.

There are also big regulatory barriers to buying airlines. Many countries limit how much foreigners can own of major carriers.

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