The online dispute between Elon Musk and Ryanair Holdings Plc has dragged into its second week, with the world's richest man again floating the idea of buying the airline after clashing with its CEO, Bloomberg reports, writes UNN.
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On Monday, Musk posted a poll on X asking if he should buy Ryanair and "restore Ryan as their rightful ruler." Earlier that day, he responded to a post from the low-cost carrier asking how much it would cost to buy them, and again demanded the firing of Michael O'Leary, the long-serving CEO and public face of the airline, which was co-founded by the late Tony Ryan in 1984.
The feud between the two outspoken leaders erupted last week after O'Leary said he would not consider installing SpaceX Starlink internet across the budget airline's fleet due to fuel costs from the weight and drag of a roof-mounted antenna. Musk then called O'Leary misinformed, who, in turn, called the billionaire an "idiot."
Ryanair shares rose 2.3% on Tuesday before falling again. Ryanair's market value is about 30 billion euros ($35 billion), three times that of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the region's largest airline group.
O'Leary, who has transformed the company into the region's largest budget carrier over several decades, is among the airline's top ten shareholders. He recently received a large bonus package for achieving certain stock performance metrics, with shares rising 55% last year.
This dispute comes as Musk's AI chatbot Grok has come under scrutiny following reports that it was used to create sexualized images of people without consent on X. Ireland will use its presidency of the European Union later this year to address the issue of image abuse through artificial intelligence in European law, Irish media reported on Monday.
Musk's post "How much would it cost to buy you?", directed at Ryanair, was reminiscent of a fateful social media exchange in 2017, the publication writes.
After he tweeted in December of that year that he liked Twitter Inc., a journalist jokingly suggested he buy the company. "How much does it cost?" Musk replied.
He returned to that exchange almost five years later, posting an upside-down smiling emoji a few days after making an unsolicited buyout offer.
EU regulations require that a majority stake in a European airline be owned and controlled by EU citizens. Last year, Ryanair's board of directors decided to allow non-EU citizens to buy ordinary shares listed on Euronext Dublin and depositary shares on Nasdaq.
According to Ryanair's website, the company may be excluded from certain stock tracking indices if there are concerns about violations of these ownership restrictions.
Musk is known for his direct criticism of executives and companies, especially on social media. During the process of acquiring Twitter, now known as X, he often expressed his disapproval of the company's operations and decisions made by its CEO at the time. Ultimately, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion and laid off its staff, including top executives.
Musk previously polled his followers on various issues, ranging from whether Tesla Inc. should accept Dogecoin as payment for its electric vehicles to whether he should sell part of his stake in the automaker. He proceeded to sell shares in the company in late 2021.
The following year, after acquiring a stake in then-Twitter, he polled users on whether they wanted an edit button for their tweets, asked if the company should convert its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter, and asked for opinions on whether Twitter should bring back its short-video service Vine.
Months after polling whether he should step down as head of the company, Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to replace him as CEO in May 2023.
Buying an airline is no easy task. British Airways owner, IAG SA, abandoned a plan to buy Spanish carrier Air Europa in 2024 due to competition concerns, and Spirit Aviation Holdings Inc. and Frontier Group Holdings faced difficulties trying to merge, the publication writes.