Elon Musk Polls His Followers: Should He Buy Ryanair and Fire Michael O'Leary? Poll Grabs 770,000 Votes, 76.9% in Favor
Billionaire Elon Musk sparked a heated debate on his X platform after launching a poll asking his followers whether he should buy the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, in a notable escalation of the ongoing feud between him and the company's CEO, Michael O'Leary.
Poll Results: Overwhelming Majority in Favor
Approximately 769,840 users participated in the poll, with 76.9% supporting the idea of Musk acquiring the company, compared to 23.1% who opposed it. It's worth noting that Musk is known for using polls to inform major decisions, as he did before acquiring Twitter (now X) in 2022.
Roots of the Dispute: Ryanair's Rejection of Starlink Service
The dispute began after O'Leary refused to equip his company's aircraft with Starlink satellite internet service, owned by Musk's SpaceX. O'Leary described the cost as "outrageous," noting that installing the antennas on a single aircraft costs $200-250 million annually.
Musk responded sharply, calling O'Leary "a total moron" and hinting at his dismissal. Musk then posted a sarcastic message asking, "How much would it cost me to buy you?" adding, "I really want to put someone like Ryan at the helm of Ryanair. That's your destiny." This was followed by another poll that garnered over 300,000 responses, with the majority supporting the purchase.
O'Leary responded: "I wouldn't care about Elon Musk at all."
In a podcast last week, O'Leary sarcastically replied, "I wouldn't care about Elon Musk at all. He's a moron," reiterating his complete rejection of the Starlink project and describing the cost as "economically unjustifiable."
Could Musk actually buy Ryanair?
Ryanair is a publicly traded company listed on the London Stock Exchange with a market capitalization exceeding €20 billion (approximately $21 billion). Any takeover attempt would require a formal offer to shareholders or a hostile takeover, a highly complex process given the company's value and share distribution.
In short: A business row that has garnered millions of views.
The dispute between Musk and O'Leary has become a major media event, with Musk's posts reaching tens of millions of views and users sarcastically discussing the idea of "firing O'Leary." While the acquisition seems unlikely at present, it demonstrates how Musk uses his platform to influence public opinion and create media pressure, as he has previously done with Twitter and other companies.
