Why Elon Musk Can't Buy Ryanair: O'Leary Cites EU Citizenship Rules

Elon Musk will be blocked from buying Ryanair because he is not an EU citizen, the airline’s chief executive has said. Michael O’Leary said ownership rules set by Brussels would prevent a takeover from Mr Musk, who has threatened to buy the company following a spat with the boss. However, he said Mr Musk was very welcome to invest in Ryanair. “We’re a publicly owned company,” Mr O’Leary said. “He’s free to do so at any time. But non-European citizens cannot own a majority of [shares in] European airlines. “But if he wants to invest in Ryanair, we would think it’s a very good investment, certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he’s earning on X. We want to thank him sincerely for the additional publicity.” Mr Musk was born in South Africa and is a US citizen. He and Mr O’Leary have traded barbs since the Ryanair chief said Mr Musk’s in-flight Wi-Fi system, Starlink, was too expensive and would raise fuel costs owing to the increased drag from the satellite antennae. Mr O’Leary said less than 5pc of passengers were likely to choose to pay extra to have in-flight Wi-Fi. He said Ryanair has been in discussions with Starlink for around a year and remained in touch with other satellite providers, including Amazon and Vodafone, which has a stake in rival provider AST Space Mobile. Mr Musk has called Mr O’Leary an “idiot”, a “r------d t---” and an “insufferable, special needs chimp” over his claims that the Starlink antenna would increase fuel costs by up to €250m (£218m) a year. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr O’Leary said: “As anybody with teenage children would know, you’re frequently called an idiot and a t--- at home. I don’t need to go outside to be insulted. But he’s wrong on the fuel drag. “He certainly won’t be the last to call me an idiot or a r------d t---. But if it helps to boost Ryanair sales, you can insult me all day, every day.” He said Mr Musk’s chimpanzee comment was “a very unfair characterisation”. “I do think it’s unfair on chimps,” he said. “But it’s very good for our bookings”. Almost a million people have voted on a poll from Mr Musk asking if he should “buy Ryanair and restore Ryan as their rightful ruler”, with more than three quarters saying he should. Ryanair’s share price has barely moved in response to Mr Musk’s criticism and online prediction markets have put the odds of a successful takeover at just 9pc. Mr O’Leary branded social media and Mr Musk’s X in particular as a “cesspit”, and objected to the anonymity allowed by users online.