Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz dead

The company announced this shortly before midnight. Mateschitz was considered the richest Austrian and not least made a name for himself with his sponsorship activities in the sports sector.

“In these moments, sadness covers all other feelings. But soon the sadness will give way to gratitude for what he has changed, moved, achieved and made possible for so many people,” Red Bull wrote in a message that was initially sent to all employees. “It is the duty and responsibility of all of us to continue his life’s work in his mind.”

Dietrich Mateschitz was born on May 20, 1944 in Sankt Marein im Mürztal. After studying business administration at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences, now the University of Economics and Business, he initially worked for Jacobs Kaffee and Blendax.

During a business trip, he became acquainted with the Asian energy drink “Krating Daeng”, or “Red Bull” in English, acquired the licensing rights and founded the company in the mid-1980s together with the Thai production family Yoovidhya.

Red Bull therefore pursued an extremely offensive marketing strategy, which also increasingly involved sponsorship in the sports sector. While it was initially more of an extreme sport, the focus gradually shifted to mass sport – from Red Bull Salzburg football club to ice hockey teams and their own Formula 1 teams.

As a co-founder of the “Wings for Life” foundation, Mateschitz was committed to research into spinal cord injury, and the crowd-shy billionaire was also involved in the media sector – for example with the television channel ServusTV. In 2022, the American magazine “Forbes” placed him in 51st place in the global billionaire ranking with a net worth of USD 27.4 billion. (con/sda/apa)