{"id":61206,"date":"2026-10-29T10:23:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/?p=61206"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:04","slug":"dietrich-mateschitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/dietrich-mateschitz\/","title":{"rendered":"Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull Co-Founder Who Built a Drink Brand Through Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dietrich Mateschitz was the Austrian marketing executive who co-founded Red Bull<\/a> in 1984 and launched its energy drink in Austria in 1987. Red Bull says the launch created a new product category, and the company now sells close to 14 billion cans a year.<\/p>\n

Since his death, the group has been run by a three-person management board, while the sports teams, events and media businesses he set up around the drink remain part of the company.<\/p>\n

Education<\/h3>\n

Mateschitz studied business at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Autosport reports that he completed a degree in marketing in 1972.<\/p>\n

Career<\/h3>\n

After university he worked in consumer goods. Autosport lists a spell at Unilever, selling detergents, before he moved to Blendax, a German maker of toothpaste and personal care products. The Irish Times reports that he rose from sales to marketing director at Blendax and stayed there until 1987.<\/p>\n

His Blendax work took him to Asia. Formula1.com reports that in 1982, while in Hong Kong, he came across Krating Daeng, a Thai energy tonic marketed by the Yoovidhya family, who also sold Blendax products.<\/p>\n

He agreed with Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya to take the drink to a world market. The two founded Red Bull GmbH in 1984, each putting in 500,000 dollars, according to Formula1.com and Autosport.<\/p>\n

Red Bull says Mateschitz spent close to three years, from 1984 to 1987, working on the formula, the brand positioning, the can and the marketing concept. The adapted drink went on sale in Austria on 1 April 1987.<\/p>\n

From the start the brand was sold through sport and events rather than classic advertising alone. The Irish Times reports that Red Bull backed athletes and teams in conventional and extreme sports, from surfing and motocross to mountain biking, cliff diving and windsurfing.<\/p>\n

Motor racing became the biggest part of that strategy. Autosport reports that Red Bull’s Formula One link began in 1995 as a sponsor of the Sauber team. At the end of 2004 Mateschitz bought the Jaguar team from Ford and renamed it Red Bull Racing.<\/p>\n

About a year later he bought a second team, Minardi, which raced as Toro Rosso and was renamed AlphaTauri in 2021. Formula1.com notes that he also ran a young driver programme in the junior Formula 2 and Formula 3 series.<\/p>\n

Red Bull also moved into football. The Irish Times lists investments in RB Leipzig in Germany and the New York Red Bulls in the United States.<\/p>\n

In Austria he bought the former \u00d6sterreichring circuit and rebuilt it as the Red Bull Ring, according to Formula1.com and Autosport. He also set up Hangar-7 at Salzburg Airport to house a collection of historic aircraft.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times also credits him with creating an air racing series, first called the Red Bull Air Race, in which stunt pilots flew slalom courses between tall inflatable pylons.<\/p>\n

In later years the group added television channels and magazines, mainly about sport, as reported by The Irish Times. In 2012 Red Bull sponsored Felix Baumgartner’s jump from more than 38 kilometres above the New Mexico desert, in which he broke the sound barrier without a vehicle.<\/p>\n

Autosport reports that one of his last major strategic decisions was to approve the creation of Red Bull Powertrains, the group’s own Formula One engine project.<\/p>\n

Roles<\/h3>\n