Elon Musk to buy Ryanair over X poll verdict? 5 times the billionaire has taken crucial decisions based on votes
Elon Musk, the world’s richest billionaire, held an X poll on Monday to ask his followers and other social media users whether he should buy airline Ryanair, amid an ongoing feud with the company’s CEO Michael O’Leary.
In the survey released Monday, Musk also asked whether he should “bring back” late founder Tony Ryan as their “rightful ruler.”
In the poll which received over 6,35,000 votes, 77.5 percent of the voters voted “Yes” and 22.5 percent voted “F No”.
Musk on Friday called Ryanair CEO O’Leary a “total idiot” who should be fired, escalating a public row that began after the airline boss refused to install Musk’s Starlink internet service on Ryanair planes.
The pair traded barbs online after Musk posted the survey on X, a tool he has used several times in the past to make important decisions.
Here is the list of important polls published by Elon Musk and the decisions he made based on the votes.
buy twitter
Months before Elon Musk acquired Twitter (now X) in March 2022, he had conducted several rounds of surveys on the social media platform. Musk continued to quietly buy shares of the company while asking his followers what to do.
Meanwhile, he continued to ask questions such as: “Freedom of expression is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter strictly adheres to this principle?” “Given that Twitter functions as a de facto public town square, failure to comply with the principles of freedom of expression fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?”
Sale of 10 percent Tesla shares
On November 6, 2021, Elon Musk posted a Twitter poll asking whether he should sell his 10% Tesla stake. “I will comply with the results of this survey no matter what,” Musk said.
The survey received millions of responses, with 57% of respondents voting yes. In November of the same year, Tesla said in an SEC filing that Musk sold $1.1 billion of Tesla stock.
I am stepping down as CEO of X
After purchasing X, Elon Musk declared himself the CEO of the company. But after facing continued anger a few months later, he asked if he should resign as CEO of X.
“I will abide by the results of this survey,” Musk wrote on December 18, 2022.
More than 57.5% of respondents in his survey agreed that he should resign, and Musk had done so in 2023.
Reinstate Donald Trump’s account
Shortly after purchasing Twitter in 2022, Musk asked his followers whether Donald Trump, whose account was banned, should be reinstated on the platform. The survey received more than 15 million responses, with almost 52% voting yes.
establishing a political party
On July 4, 2025, after his dramatic debate with Trump on DOGE, Musk asked his followers if they wanted him to start a new political party. He brought up the idea of forming the America Party after his fight with Trump over the “Big Beautiful Bill”.
As most voters supported the idea of forming a new political party, Musk wrote a day later: “2 to 1 you want a new political party and you will have it!”
However, he has not spoken about his political party since then and recently reconciled with Trump.
