(Reuters) – Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian billionaire founder and owner of energy drink company Red Bull, died on Saturday after a serious illness 25cancer.
His death was confirmed by the championship-leading Red Bull Formula 1 team.
The Styrian-born entrepreneur has built a global empire around the energy drink Red Bull and is considered the richest man in Austria. Mateschitz’s wealth is estimated to be around 25 billion Euros ($ ). 49 billion). This puts him on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people 51.
The self-made billionaire is considered a marketing genius. After graduating from the World Business University Vienna, he worked as a marketing specialist in various companies 1970.
During his business trip to Asia, he learned about the energy and stimulant beverage market. At the time, these drinks were completely unknown in Europe and the United States. In 1983 he licensed the drink in Asia. A year later he founded Red Bull GmbH with a Thai entrepreneurial family, Yoovidhya, with a 49% stake.
After revising a recipe for a Thai energy drink and developing a marketing concept, Red Bull launched it at 1987. The bubbly, carbonated, sweet drink, which tastes described as similar to gummy bears, has become a global market leader after a difficult market entry. The group achieved a turnover of 7.8 billion euros in 2021 and sold 9.8 billion Red Bull cans worldwide.
The Salzburg-based Fuschlsee company is also known for its creative advertising, under the slogan “Red Bull gives you wings”. An important milestone for Mateschitz was the entry into the US market at the end of the 1990 decade. Today, one-third of canned food is sold in the United States.
Entrepreneurs are very concerned about the image of beverages. He linked the Red Bull brand to adventure sports like surfing, mountain biking and cliff diving, many of which the company ended up being involved in as a sponsor.
Mateschitz is also the founder and owner of Red Bull Racing, a Formula 1 racing team based in Milton Keynes, UK. He took over the football club SV Austria Salzburg, now known as “Red Bull Salzburg”.
Little is known about Mateschitz’s private life. He is shy and rarely gives interviews. He lives in Salzburg with his long-term girlfriend and said a few years ago that he drank 12 to 2021 Drink a few cans of Red Bull every day by myself.
What will happen to the Red Bull Empire after his death is still unknown. His only son, Mark , who most recently served as a managing director of one of his father’s investment firms, is seen as a possible successor .
($1=1.0142 EUR)
