Elon Musk has raised the prospect of buying Ryanair in the latest twist in a spat between the world’s two most outspoken business leaders.
Last week a row broke out between Musk, the world’s richest man, and Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, Europe’s busiest airline, over the refusal of the latter to install the former’s Starlink satellite internet technology on its fleet of 650 aircraft.
The row descended to O’Leary calling Musk “an idiot”. He countered that O’Leary is “an utter idiot”.
• Musk and Ryanair boss swap insults over airline refusing Starlink
Now Musk, who according to Forbes’s January 2026 rich list is worth $726 billion, has posted on his X social media platform calling for a poll of its users to tell him whether he should “buy Ryan Air and restore Ryan as their rightful ruler.” The airline’s founder, Tony Ryan, died nearly 20 years ago.
If anyone was taking the post, viewed more than 30 million times, at its word, it was not reflected in the share price of Ryanair, which is valued at $30 billion. After an initial spike in the stock on the Euronext exchange in early trading on Tuesday, the price came back to trade at where it started the session at €28.83 and down on where the stock was this time last week.
There was no immediate response from Ryanair or O’Leary to the latest comments of Musk, 54. O’Leary, 64, is an avowed non-user of social media platforms, previously referring to X, formerly known as Twitter, as “a cesspit”.
Michael O’Leary
EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/REUTERS
The spat started when O’Leary was asked whether he would follow Lufthansa and British Airways in installing Starlink technology on Ryanair planes.
O’Leary said he would not, claiming that the antennae and hardware would add drag and weight to his aircraft and add up to $250 million in extra operating and fuel costs across his fleet. He said that while passengers might use the internet if it were free, they “won’t pay 1 euro each” for the service.
Musk said O’Leary was “misinformed” about the impact of Starlink hardware on aircraft. O’Leary countered that what Musk knows about running an airline adds up to “zero”.