O'Leary wealth goes stratospheric

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has been declared a dollar billionaire on the annual Forbes.com billionaires list.

He is one of several who share the 1,999 rank, with wealth estimated at $1.1bn (€890m).

The list shows there to be 2,208 billionaires in the world, and nine of them are from Ireland.

Michael O'Leary, 56, who lives at Gigginstown, owns a stake of about 4.1 per cent in Ryanair, but also has extensive land and property holdings.

He is a noted horse owner, and has had extensive success with his horses.

He is also a keen farmer, specialising in Aberdeen Angus.

The Forbes write-up on O'Leary describes how after studying at Trinity his first job was as an accountant at KPMG. He later worked as a financial advisor to Ryanair founder Tony Ryan before joining the budget airline in 1988 as deputy chief executive.

Mr O'Leary became CEO in 1994 and has held the role ever since. Ryanair runs over 2,000 flights daily and operates in 33 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.