- The teen who went viral for tracking Elon Musk’s private jet got a job offer out of the saga.
- The New York Post said Jack Sweeney was offered work with Stratos Jet Charters for his “creativity” with the @ElonJet Twitter account.
- Musk previously offered Sweeney $5,000 to shut down the account and has since blocked the teen.
The teen who went viral for tracking Elon Musk’s private jet on Twitter has gotten a job offer out of that pursuit.
Jack Sweeney, 19, has been offered work with Orlando-based private charter flight company Stratos Jet Charters, the New York Post first reported Tuesday.
“It was pretty cool. They’re UCF [University of Central Florida] alumni, so it’s pretty interesting,” Sweeney told the Post of the job opportunity.
Stratos President and CEO Joel Thomas told the Post the company offered Sweeney work on its development team after seeing his “creativity” in starting the Twitter account Elon Musk’s Jet.
Thomas confirmed to Insider that the company reached out to Sweeney about employment.
“Seeing Jack’s interest in private aviation along with his adroit tech capability, I opened the door to him to join our development team,” Thomas said. “Understanding that he is currently enrolled at UCF, Stratos is happy to work with him on a project basis, part-time or internship to help him further his educational goals.”
“I see Jack as having both a passion for aviation and for tech,” Thomas continued. “I believe this is the recipe to help Stratos continue to raise the bar that others are chasing.”
Sweeney also confirmed to Insider that he received the offer but said he isn’t likely to accept given his current work at UberJets, where he’s building a platform to track chartered flights to help find cheaper seats for clients.
“I already work for UberJets and I’m on an NDA, so I can’t really take it,” he said.
Sweeney and his @ElonJet Twitter account went viral last month after Protocol reported that Musk had offered the teen $5,000 last fall to take down the account. Messages between Sweeney and Musk showed the Tesla and SpaceX CEO calling the account “a security risk” and saying, “I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase.” Musk had said earlier in January that social media accounts tracking his movements were “becoming a security issue.”
Sweeney asked to bump the offer up to $50,000; Musk said he’d think about it and later said it didn’t “feel right” to pay to take down the account.
Sweeney recently told Insider’s Isobel Asher Hamilton that he enjoys maintaining the account too much to give it up for $5,000. On Monday, Sweeney told Bloomberg that Musk blocked all social media accounts linked to the teen over the weekend.