In a feat of corporate theater that has captivated the global business world, the week of January 14 marked the beginning of a relentless and highly public war of words between Elon Musk and Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. The clash, which has since devolved into mutual accusations of idiocy and a viral takeover threat, highlights the friction between the tech industry’s push for total connectivity and the budget aviation sector’s obsession with cost efficiency.
The dispute reached a fever pitch today, January 21, as O’Leary took the stage in Dublin for a press conference to address Musk’s latest “Twitter tantrum,” just as the airline launched its “Great Idiots Seat Sale” specifically dedicated to the billionaire.
Elon Musk and Michael O’Leary in major tussle over Ryannair
In a recent report by The Guardian, two CEOs have been involved in a highly public tussle. The exchange of allegations between Tesla’s Elon Musk and Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has intensified in the past week to a great extent. The friction began when O’Leary, speaking on the Irish radio station Newstalk, flatly rejected the idea of installing SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet across Ryanair’s fleet of 650 aircraft. The veteran airline boss, known for his “pennies-and-cents” accounting, dismissed Musk as a wealthy “idiot” who reportedly has no knowledge about aerodynamics.
O’Leary’s argument is rooted in the harsh physics of short-haul travel; he claims that mounting Starlink antennas on a Boeing 737 would create a 2% fuel drag. In an industry where margins are razor-thin, O’Leary estimates this would add an astronomical $200 million to $250 million to the airline’s annual fuel bill—a cost he insists his budget-conscious passengers would never agree to cover.
Musk, the world’s richest man and a veteran of high-stakes online feuds, did not take the criticism quietly. He immediately hit back on his platform, X, calling O’Leary “misinformed.” He claimed that SpaceX’s own analysis showed the fuel penalty for a Starlink terminal was closer to 0.3%, potentially dropping below 0.1% with further optimization.
The exchange spiraled quickly, with Musk calling O’Leary an “imbecile.” When X briefly went offline last week, Ryanair’s social media team joined the fray, mockingly asking Musk if he “needed Wi-Fi,” to which Musk replied with a pointed question: “How much would it cost to buy you?“
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Musk’s Ryannair Takeover could entail another EU clash
The tension shifted from insults to a potential hostile takeover when Musk posted a poll to his 230 million followers asking if he should “Buy Ryan Air and restore Ryan as their rightful ruler“—a reference to the airline’s co-founder, Tony Ryan. With nearly 80% of the 900,000 respondents voting in favor, the move briefly jolted aviation markets, though analysts remain skeptical.
Beyond the €30 billion price tag, Musk faces a massive legal wall: European Union regulations require that EU-based airlines be majority-owned and controlled by EU nationals. As a U.S. citizen, Musk would likely find it impossible to seize control without a complex and legally precarious restructuring.
O’Leary’s response to the takeover chatter was characteristic of his brash style, turning the feud into a massive marketing windfall. The “Great Idiots Seat Sale” offered 100,000 seats for just €16.99, urging customers to “buy now before Musk gets one.”
The press conference in Dublin served as the ultimate rebuttal, with O’Leary doubling down on the claim that Musk knows even less about airline ownership rules than he does about drag. For now, the Musk-Ryanair saga remains a fascinating study in the collision of two massive egos, proving that in 2026, the most effective tool in a CEO’s arsenal might not be a satellite network, but a well-timed insult and a flash sale.
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