Dietrich Mateschitz was an Austrian billionaire businessman.
He was the co-founder and 49% owner of Red Bull GmbH.
After taking ten years to graduate from the Hochschule für Welthandel (now Vienna University of Economics and Business) with a marketing degree in 1972, Mateschitz’s first employer was Unilever, where he worked marketing detergents.
He then moved to Blendax, the German cosmetics company (since bought by Procter & Gamble), where he worked on, among other things, the marketing of Blendax toothpaste. It was as part of his travels for Blendax that he discovered Krating Daeng, the drink that would later become Red Bull.
In 1984, he founded Red Bull GmbH with Chaleo Yoovidhya, launching the brand in Austria in 1987. Ultimately, he turned the Red Bull drink into a world market leader among energy drinks.
From 2006 to 2011, Mateschitz also owned Team Red Bull which competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the K&N Pro Series East.
In late 2004, he purchased the A1-Ring racing circuit, which had formerly hosted the Formula One Austrian Grand Prix, and renamed it the Red Bull Ring.
In April 2005, Mateschitz bought the Austrian football club SV Austria Salzburg and in March 2006, he bought the American club MetroStars; both clubs were subsequently renamed after his famous drink, as Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls, respectively.
In 2007, Red Bull founded Red Bull Brasil, a football team based in Campinas, Brazil. Red Bull founded Red Bull Ghana in 2008. In May 2009, he initiated a German football club called RB Leipzig after he purchased the playing license of SSV Markranstädt.
From 2012, he was also the owner of the German ice hockey club EHC München, which also changed its name to Red Bull München.
He was co-founder of the Wings for Life foundation which supports spinal cord research together with Heinz Kinigadner. Since 2014, the foundation has organised the Wings for Life World Run to raise funds.
As of October 2021, Mateschitz’s net worth was estimated at US$25.4 billion.
Dietrich Mateschitz died on October 22, 2022, at the age of 78, following a long period of illness.