Vienna, October 22 (.).- Austrian businessman Dietrich Mateschitz was the mind behind the great revolution in the world of energy drinks and extreme sports, which has found its greatest value in the red bull representative since the 1980s.

Born to a family of teachers in Styria, Austria, on May 20, 1944, Red Bull’s founding boss is on Forbes’ list of the richest people on the planet with a fortune of more than $27,000 million.

Austria’s richest man has died today at the age of 78, after weeks of rumors, according to a statement by Red Bull itself.

RED BULL WINGS

A graduate of the University of Vienna in Economics and Business, Mateschitz worked for years as a marketing manager for international companies such as: Unilever (LON:) and Blendax.

On a business trip to Thailand in 1984, he discovered the energy drink Krating Daeng (Red bull in Thai) that would now become Red Bull.

Deceived by the taste of the Thai beverage, Mateschitz once said, “I never believed that what started as a personal taste would become a world bomb.” .West.

It officially introduced the brand in Austria in 1987 and has since become the “Coca-Cola (NYSE:)” of energy drinks, with more than 7 billion cans sold each year, enough to supply 80% of the planet with caffeine.

The company, controlled by Meteschitz himself (49%) and the family of Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya (51%), recorded sales of 7,307 million euros in 2021, according to data from the trade registry, as Red Bull was not listed on the bag. .

ADVERTISING AND SPORTS ARE TWO GREAT WEAPONS

Much of its success and visibility as a “red bull” brand lies in its massive investment in advertising.

If ‘Coca-Cola’ allocates 9% of its revenue to such campaigns, this figure rises to 30% of the turnover at Red Bull.

The Austrian brand, which sponsors hundreds of people related to winter and high-risk sports around the world, found its major participant in Formula 1 in the early 2000s.

In 2004, Mateschitz, who until then was the sponsor of the Swiss Sauber team, formed his own F1 team – Red Bull Racing – after buying British Jaguar.

After outstanding starts, Red Bull reached the pinnacle of motorsport in 2010 with a double victory: the constructors’ and drivers’ championship, won by the young Sebastian Vettel.

This success was no accident, and proof of that was the dominance of the Mateschitz brand in the 2010s with three consecutive “doubles” in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The Austrian businessman also owns a second Formula 1 team to train young drivers in the motor world: Alpha Tauri.

FOOTBALL AND OTHER SECTORS

The sports empire goes beyond circuits and also has a football team from Austrian first division Red Bull Salzburg, which has been eight national champions in a row since 2014 and has been a regular in the Champions League for several years.

In addition, there are RB Leipzig, one of the strongest teams in the German Bundesliga, as well as the “New York Red Bulls” from the US professional football league, as well as two clubs in the lower categories from Brazil.

Closely related to sports, ‘Hangar 7’ in Salzburg is a futuristic automobile and aviation museum that also hosts the weekly sports debate set broadcast live on Red Bull’s own terrestrial television channel ‘Servus TV’.

Apart from sports, the company publishes its own magazine “Red Bulletin” with a circulation of several million worldwide in English, German, French and Spanish.

/jpd

(Photograph)