Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz is dead
Mateschitz was born in 1944 in St. Marein in the Mürztal in Styria. After studying economics in Vienna, he initially worked for Jacobs Kaffee and the toothpaste manufacturer Blendax. In 1984 he founded Yoovidhya Red Bull together with the Thai entrepreneurial family Yoovidhya – the now world-famous energy drink was developed on the basis of a Thai drink. The company was based in Fuschl (Flachgau).
Net worth estimated at $15.4 billion
The drink came onto the market in 1987 – first in Austria, then worldwide. The Red Bull Group currently employs 13,610 people in 172 countries. He sold 9.8 billion cans of the energy drink in 2021 and had a total turnover of 7.8 billion euros. Mateschitz made this success the richest Austrian: The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his fortune today at 15.4 billion US dollars. Over the years, Mateschitz has built up a beverage, real estate, gastronomy and media empire.
Rise with sports sponsorship
From the very beginning, Dietrich Mateschitz focused on sports sponsorship with Red Bull: In 1985, Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger was his first advertising medium – even before Red Bull was founded, he spoke to Berger: “Back then, we decided on one A sponsorship spot at Helm was agreed if he founded the company,” Berger recalls. Since then, many international sports stars have been and continue to be sponsored by Red Bull – from Lindsey Vonn to Neymar to Marcel Hirscher and Anna Gasser.
In the beginning it was mainly trend sports that were supported: young, daring and cool – this is the image Mateschitz wanted to wear with his energy drink. But he also had to accept criticism because extreme athletes supported by Red Bull had to pay for their daring with their lives. Red Bull then ventured onto the big sports stage in 2005 with the founding of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team and the subsidiary team Toro Rosso (today Alpha Tauri). Success came with the Formula 1 commitment – with world championship titles from Sebastian Vettel and most recently Max Verstappen. Mateschitz had a passion for motorsport, said his advisor Helmut Marko: “Didi Mateschitz is very well involved in the entire development, coordination and decision-making process.”
Football commitment since 2005
Mateschitz started his football engagement in 2005 with the takeover of SV Austria Salzburg. After teething troubles, the Red Bull soccer field is set up with training centers, academies and professional clubs in Salzburg, Leipzig and New York.
Spectacular buildings, donors
Mateschitz also set himself architectural monuments – for example with the eye-catching glass buildings of Hangar-7 at Salzburg Airport or the glass volcano-shaped company headquarters in Fuschl. He had some of his castles, hotels and inns renovated at great expense. In 2014, the entrepreneur brought Formula 1 back to Styria after centuries with the Austrian Grand Prix.
Mateschitz was also active as a donor – for example for spinal cord research or for the Paracelsus Medical Private University (PMU) in Salzburg. The billionaire was shy of the public – when he was, he was relaxed in jeans and in a good mood.
Servus TV: The other side of Mateschitz
But the entrepreneur also had another side: when employees of the Mateschitz empire’s broadcaster Servus TV wanted to set up a works council against his will in 2016, he planned to close the broadcaster immediately. Then he allowed himself to be persuaded to continue the business – albeit without a works council. Since the coronavirus pandemic, Servus TV has relied primarily on reporting that is critical of measures.
Son Mark has taken over in some areas in recent months
In the past few months, Dietrich Matschitz’s 29-year-old son, Mark, has held management positions in some of these companies – for example through his own Mark Mateschitz Beteiligungs GmbH, which holds shares in the real estate company deaurea, or in the “Wings for Life” foundation.