Dietrich Mateschitz of Red Bull started an energy drink company and ended up with a sports empire. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)
Red Bull chairman and chief executive Dietrich Mateschitz, a man who co-founded an energy drink company that would eventually become one of the world’s biggest sports empires, has died, his company confirmed Saturday. He was 78 years old.
Born in Austria in 1944, Mateschitz founded Red Bull GmbH with Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya in 1984. The brand would become the world’s top energy drink company, with Mateschitz owning 49 percent of the company.
Long known for aggressive and innovative marketing, Mateschitz’s Red Bull found a new way to get its name and logo in front of as many people as possible: buying and renaming sports teams, specifically in football and car racing.
The company first made its presence known in Formula 1 with a sponsorship deal with Sauber in 1995 after Mateschitz bought a majority stake in the team, but became a real power player when he bought the Jaguar team in 2004 and transformed it into Red Bull Racing. . Since then, the team has won six Formula 1 drivers’ championships, four for Sebastian Vettel and two for Max Verstappen, and four constructors’ championships.
Meanwhile, Red Bull moved into soccer with its controversial purchase of SV Austria Salzburg, turning it into Red Bull Salzburg. It wouldn’t be the last league Red Bull bought, nor its last controversial move.
Red Bull’s sports funds now include the following:
Esports
All this, in addition to Red Bull’s prodigious sponsorship of various extreme sports and stunt events.
Much of that is attributable to Mateschitz’s leadership. Read also : Shift: Watt Needs Five. As Formula 1 chairman and chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali said in a statement:
“I am deeply saddened by the news that Dietrich Mateschitz, a well-respected and much-loved member of the Formula 1 family, has passed away.
“He was an incredible visionary entrepreneur and a man who helped transform our sport and created the Red Bull brand that is known around the world.
“He will be greatly missed, as will the entire Formula 1 community, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and the Red Bull and AlphaTauri teams at this very sad time.”
