Dietrich Mateschitz, the co-founder of pioneering energy drink brand Red Bull and owner of the Red Bull Formula One racing team, has died at the age of 78.
Mateschitz’s death was announced Saturday by officials for the company’s Formula One team during the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. No cause of death was given.
Born in Styria, Austria in 1944, Mateschitz graduated from the Vienna University of Economics and Business in 1972 with a degree in marketing and began his CPG career marketing household goods in Europe, holding various positions throughout the 1970s and 80s at Unilever and Blendax.
During a business trip to Thailand while working for Blendax, he discovered energy drink brand Krating Daeng and in 1984 he partnered with the beverage’s creator, Chaleo Yoovidhya, to found Red Bull GmbH. The company launched a reformulated product under its current name in Austria in 1987 and quickly expanded across Europe before debuting in the United States in 1997.
“In these moments, the over-riding feeling is one of sadness,” Red Bull wrote in a company-wide email to employees, reported by CNN. “But soon the sadness will make way for gratitude – gratitude for what he changed, moved, encouraged and made possible for so many individual people. We will remain connected to him respectfully and lovingly.”
Largely credited with helping to mainstream the energy drink category in western countries, Red Bull is today one of the largest energy brands globally, available in 172 countries and reporting over $6.3 billion in annual dollar sales in the U.S. The success of the brand helped to make Mateschitz a billionaire many times over; his net worth was reported by Forbes at over $27.4 billion as of April.
It was Mateschitz’s own passion for action sports that led Red Bull to tie its brand identity to extreme athletics and high-octane activities. In 1995, the brand partnered with motorsports engineering company Sauber to become majority owner of its Formula One racing team, and later formed Red Bull Racing in 2005. The team has won five Constructor’s Championships and six Driver’s Championships, including fresh wins in both fields this year.
“He was a remarkable man, what he’s done for so many, not just in Formula One but in the Red Bull business and the Red Bull world across all the sporting platforms,” Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner told reporters on Saturday.
Last month, media reports suggested that Mateschitz had been “seriously ill” for at least several months and had ceased public appearances, however the company did not comment at the time.
Mateschitz was also the owner of Austrian culture magazine Seitenblicke and television station ServusTV.
On LinkedIn this weekend many in the beverage industry, including former Red Bull employees, wrote tributes to Mateschitz.
“Having worked for Red Bull for 16 years, I had the privilege to get to know Dietrich on both a professional and personal level,” wrote former Red Bull CFO An De Vooght in a post. “He was a brilliant marketing genius, a visionary and incredible entrepreneur. He was passionate, resilient with a zest for life that gave us all our daily WIINGS. He truly cared for people and made us all feel as family, the Red Bull family… We have lost a great leader, an inspiration, a kind human being. You will never be forgotten Dietrich.”
Meanwhile, others who did not know Mateschitz personally shared how he had served as an inspirational figure.
“I learned of how [Mateschitz] infused creativity by creating unique events (wanting to own the experience instead of co-sponsoring),” wrote Basemakers CEO Max Baumann. “How he wanted consumers to discover Red Bull at the exact point they wanted energy – a concert, a sporting event, & a night club…. Other competitors came out and copied the brilliant playbook crafted by a toothpaste marketing executive who later turned into a multi-billionaire leading a massive, media & beverage empire.”