Topline<\/p>\n
Michael O\u2019Leary, CEO of Irish budget airline Ryanair, on Tuesday launched<\/a> a ticket sale called the \u201cBig \u2018Idiot\u2019 Seat Sale\u201d as an escalation of his feud with billionaire Elon Musk and said he\u2019ll hold a press conference Wednesday to discuss Musk\u2019s \u201cTwitter tantrum.\u201d <\/p>\n A Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 from Ryanair is landing at Barcelona Airport on Feb. 23, 2024. <\/p>\n NurPhoto via Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n Musk and O’Leary have been sparring on X, the social media site Musk owns, since late last week after O’Leary appeared on a podcast and said \u201cI would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk, he\u2019s an idiot.” <\/p>\n Musk then called O’Leary \u201can utter idiot” and the jabs have continued since, culminating with the airline’s sale announced<\/a> in a post Tuesday that said “Ryanair is launching a Great Idiots seat sale especially for Elon and any other idiots on X. 100,000 seats for just \u20ac16.99 one-way. Buy now before Musk gets one!!!” <\/p>\n The sale is being advertised alongside a graphic of cartoon versions of O’Leary and Musk (who is wearing an X t-shirt, holding a Tesla model car and standing next to a rocketship) that depicts the former hitting Musk over the head with a sign that says “I \u2764\ufe0fRyanair.”<\/p>\n The Ryanair CEO also said he will hold a press conference in Dublin on Wednesday to “address (undress??) Elon Musk’s latest Twitshi*t,” adding “Musk knows even less about airline ownership rules than he does about aircraft aerodynamics.”\t<\/p>\n Musk responded to news of the sale Tuesday by calling<\/a> O\u2019Leary an \u201cinsufferable, special needs chimp\u201d who \u201chas no idea how airplanes even fly.\u201d <\/p>\n Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We\u2019re launching text message alerts so you’ll always know the biggest stories shaping the day\u2019s headlines. Text \u201cAlerts\u201d to (201) 335-0739<\/a> or sign up here: joinsubtext.com\/forbes.<\/a><\/p>\n Key Background<\/p>\n O’Leary was shutting down<\/a> the idea of installing satellite internet services from Musk’s company Starlink on Ryanair planes on a podcast last week when he said Musk is “very wealthy, but he’s still an idiot.” O’Leary said Musk knows “zero” about flights and drag, and said he “wouldn’t pay any attention to anything that Elon Musk puts on that cesspit of his called X.” Musk responded<\/a> on Friday by writing, “Ryanair CEO is an utter idiot. Fire him.” When a follower suggested he buy Ryanair and fire O’Leary, Musk wrote<\/a>, “Good idea.” The billionaire then posted, \u201cShould I buy Ryan Air and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge?\u201d On Sunday, the Ryanair X account responded to a post that said “what is a propaganda you’re not falling for??” by saying<\/a> “Wi-Fi on planes.” Musk then re-upped his idea, responding<\/a>, “How much would it cost to buy you?” and adding, \u201cI really want to put a Ryan in charge of Ryan Air. It is your destiny.\u201d <\/p>\n Forbes Valuation<\/p>\n Musk, CEO at Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, is the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $770 billion as of Tuesday. O’Leary<\/a> briefly appeared on Forbes’ billionaire list in 2018 but dropped off in 2019 due to a slump in Ryanair’s stock prices and has not been named a billionaire since. Ryanair’s stock price has increased more than 60% over the last 12 months. O\u2019Leary said his airline’s profits were boosted<\/a> 40% between April and September of last year thanks to Europeans who chose to travel locally for holidays out of a “reluctance” to travel to the United States.<\/p>\n Further ReadingForbesElon Musk Again Floats Buying Ryanair: \u2018How Much Would It Cost\u2019By Martina Di Licosa<\/a>ForbesElon Musk Closes In On $800 Billion Net Worth After XAI\u2019s Latest Funding RoundBy Matt Durot<\/a>ForbesSpaceX Tender Offer Rockets Elon Musk Closer To Trillionaire StatusBy Danielle Chemtob<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline Michael O\u2019Leary, CEO of Irish budget airline Ryanair, on Tuesday launched a ticket sale called the \u201cBig…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,11,200662,34807,200663],"class_list":["post-419774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-elon-musk","tag-michael-oleary","tag-ryanair","tag-twitter-feud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}