Dietrich Mateschitz | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mateschitz in 2005 | |
| Born | Dietrich Markwart Eberhart Mateschitz (1944-05-20)20 May 1944 |
| Died | 22 October 2022(2022-10-22) (aged 78) St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut, Austria |
| Education | Vienna University of Economics and Business |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Years active | 1987–2022 |
| Known for | Co-foundingRed Bull GmbH |
| Partner | Anita Gerhardter |
| Children | Mark Mateschitz |
Dietrich Markwart Eberhart Mateschitz (German:[ˈdiːtʁɪçˈmaːtəʃɪts]; 20 May 1944 – 22 October 2022) was an Austrian entrepreneur. He was the co-founder and 49% owner ofRed Bull GmbH.[1] In April 2022, Mateschitz's net worth was estimated at US$27.4 billion.[2]
Mateschitz worked in marketing forUnilever andBlendax. While travelling in Thailand, he discovered the drinkKrating Daeng, which he adapted intoRed Bull. He founded Red Bull GmbH in 1984 and launched it in Austria in 1987. His company acquired or founded several sports teams around the world, including six-timeConstructors' ChampionsRed Bull Racing and sister teamRacing Bulls inFormula One, andassociation football teams includingFC Red Bull Salzburg andRB Leipzig.
Mateschitz was born on 20 May 1944, inSankt Marein im Mürztal,Styria, Austria,[3][4] to a family ofSlovene-Styrian orCroatian ancestry. His mother's side was from present-dayStyria, his father's side was fromMaribor (then still part of Styria, but now inSlovenia.[5][6] He declared himself a "Styrian cosmopolitan".[7][8] Both his parents were school teachers.[9] He attended theHochschule für Welthandel (nowVienna University of Economics and Business), where after ten years, he graduated with a marketing degree in 1972.[5][10] He was keen and passionate about extreme sports at an early age.[11]
Mateschitz's first employer wasUnilever, where he worked marketing detergents. He subsequently moved toBlendax, the German cosmetics company (since bought byProcter & Gamble),[12] where he worked on, among other things, the marketing of Blendax toothpaste.[13] It was as part of his travels for Blendax, on the way from Bangkok airport to the city centre, that Mateschitz bought a bottle ofKrating Daeng, the drink that would later becomeRed Bull.[4][5] "One glass [of Krating Daeng] and the jet lag was gone", he recalled. Sensing the commercial opportunities of this drink in Europe, Mateschitz struck a partnership deal with the Thai businessmanChaleo Yoovidhya who had already been successfully selling Krating Daeng to lorry drivers and factory workers.[14]
In 1984, he founded Red Bull GmbH[15] with Yoovidhya, launching the brand in Austria in 1987.[4][13] Subsequently, he turned the Red Bull drink into a world market leader amongenergy drinks.[16] It was revealed that he worked on the formula for around three years before the modified drink was launched under the new name Red Bull in 1987.[11]
Mateschitz also ownedSeitenblicke, Austria's top society magazine, but avoided the celebrity circuit and watched most Formula One races on TV despite owning two teams.[17] He also founded Media House in Austria in 2007 by providing variousdigital entertainment and thousands of hours of images to interested broadcasters.[18]
Mateschitz ownedServusTV, a television channel based inSalzburg. The channel was criticised for allegedly downplaying the seriousness of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[18] The channel is considered to have a right-wing position, and was one of only three media outlets given apress pass to the "Defenders of Europe" conference of right-wing and far-right activists in October 2016.[19] In May 2016, Mateschitz announced he would shut down the channel as his employees had requested to form aworks council; he changed his mind when no such council was formed.[20]
Mateschitz's brands are consistently marketed as associated with the physical and mental attributes needed for various types ofextreme sports such assurfing,skydiving, cliff diving,winter sports andmountain biking throughcommercial sponsorship.[21] Under his tenure, Red Bull was widely acclaimed for its creative and intensive marketing of extreme sports.[22] The successful high altitude skydiving exploration from the edge of space which was carried out byRed Bull Stratos in collaboration withFelix Baumgartner in October 2012 is considered as one of the turning points in Red Bull's history in terms of its intensive marketing strategies in the context of extreme sports.[23][24]
Red Bull formerly owned more than 60 percent of theSauberFormula One motor racing team, and was the team's main sponsor. However, Red Bull ended its relationship with Sauber at the end of 2001 after the team opted to signKimi Räikkönen as one of their drivers for the2001 season instead of Red Bull protegeEnrique Bernoldi.[25] In November 2004, Mateschitz bought the failingJaguar Racing Formula One team from its previous owners,Ford, for $1.[26] Mateschitz renamed Jaguard to a full-blownRed Bull Racing team for the following season in2005,[27] and recruited former Formula-2 driverChristian Horner as team principal while also bringing one of the sport's leading design engineerAdrian Newey on board as the technical director for a salary of $10m.[28]
In September 2005, Mateschitz joined forces with his close friend and former Formula One driver,Gerhard Berger, to purchase the Italian-registeredMinardi team from its Australian ownerPaul Stoddart.[29] This team was meant to serve as a junior team to Red Bull Racing and was renamed asScuderia Toro Rosso (Italian:Red Bull Stable) in 2006,[30]AlphaTauri in 2020,[31] andRB (Racing Bulls[32]/Visa Cash App RB) in 2024.[33]
Sebastian Vettel won the2008 Italian Grand Prix for Toro Rosso. His victory at the2009 Chinese Grand Prix was the first for Red Bull Racing.[34] In 2010, Red Bull Racing won the Formula One World Constructors' Championship and Vettel won the Drivers' Championship. They then went on to win both titles for the next three years running in2011,2012, and2013.[35] Red Bull retained theirRenault power amidst the arrival of turbo-hybrid engines in2014.Mercedes had a much more powerful engine, leading to sustained dominance from2014 to2020. Red Bull's unreliable and slow Renault engine led to a rough patch and lean phase; while Red Bull was able to win races, the most notable beingMax Verstappen on his Red Bull debut at the2016 Spanish Grand Prix, the team ultimately went winless in both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships for over eight years. Red Bull's partnership with Renault broke down after 2015, but the team was unable to find another engine supplier, opting to run Renault engines rebadged asTAG Heuer in 2016 to 2018. TakingHonda power in2019 proved beneficial for Red Bull, leading up to their first Drivers' Championship victory since Vettel in 2013 with Verstappen in2021, while finishing runners-up in the Formula One World Constructors' Championship which was won by Mercedes. In the2022 season, Red Bull's last Formula One season that was overseen by Mateschitz,[36] Verstappen retained his title, the sixth by a Red Bull driver.[37]
From 2006 to 2011, Mateschitz also ownedTeam Red Bull who competed in theNASCARSprint Cup Series and theK&N Pro Series East.[38]
In late 2004, he bought theA1-Ring racing circuit, which had formerly hosted the Formula OneAustrian Grand Prix, and renamed it theRed Bull Ring. The circuit re-opened in May 2011 and hosted a round of the2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season. Although Mateschitz had stated that there were no plans for it to return to the Formula One calendar, in December 2012 Red Bull notified theFédération Internationale de l'Automobile they would be open to hosting a Grand Prix.[39] In July 2013, Red Bull announced the return of the Austrian Grand Prix to the Formula One World Championship in 2014. The race took place on22 June 2014 and was won byNico Rosberg, driving for Mercedes.[40]
In April 2005, he bought the Austrianfootball club SV Austria Salzburg, and in March 2006, he bought the American soccer team MetroStars; both clubs were subsequently renamed after his famous drink, as theRed Bull Salzburg and theNew York Red Bulls, respectively.[41] In 2007, Red Bull foundedRed Bull Brasil, a football team based inCampinas, São Paulo, and in 2019 the company acquiredClube Atlético Bragantino, also in thestate of São Paulo.[42] In 2008, Red Bull foundedRed Bull Ghana, afootball academy inSogakope which was sold to Dutch clubFeyenoord in 2014.[43]
In May 2009, he founded the German football clubRB Leipzig, after buying the license fromSSV Markranstädt. They debuted in theOberliga, the fifth tier of theGerman football league system. The team rose to the top-tierBundesliga in 2016, made theUEFA Champions League semi-finals in 2020 and won theDFB-Pokal in 2022 and 2023 and theDFL-Supercup in 2023.[44]
He also owned the ice hockey clubsEC Red Bull Salzburg andEHC Red Bull München, which were acquired and rebranded in 2000 and 2012, respectively.[45]
Mateschitz was co-founder of theWings for Life foundation that supportsspinal cord research together withHeinz Kinigadner. Since 2014, the foundation has organised theWings for Life World Run to raise funds.[46]
Mateschitz personally donated 70 million euros toParacelsus Medical University for a research center on spinal cord injuries.[47]
He also initiated theWorld Stunt Awards, an annual fundraiser to benefit his Taurus Foundation, which, according to its website, helps injuredstunt professionals.[48]
Mateschitz never married;[17] he had a son namedMark, born in May 1992.[49] As of the time of Mateschitz's death, his son was the managing director of one of his investment companies.[50] Mateschitz rarely gave interviews, and refused to answer questions about his son.[51] He remained a reclusive figure maintaining low profile despite his heavy involvement with Formula One.[52] He was also known for his simplicity of dress, often being seen wearing casual clothing, including denim pants and sunglasses.[18] Mateschitz was in a relationship with the mother of his son, Anita Gerhardter, for nine years, and later had a long-term partner named Marion Feichtner.[51][53] He was known as a recluse, stating "I don't believe in 50 friends. I believe in a smaller number. Nor do I care about society events. It's the most senseless use of time. When I do go out, from time to time, it's just to convince myself again that I'm not missing a lot".[51]
He held a pilot's licence and enjoyed flying aFalcon 900 and aPiper Super Cub.[17] He hadhis own hangar with a collection of old planes, including the lastDouglas DC-6B ever produced, which once belonged to Yugoslav MarshalJosip Broz Tito.[54]
Mateschitz and hisBundesliga clubRB Leipzig faced backlash in 2017 over comments he made in aKleine Zeitung interview[55] in which he suggested that Austria should close its borders to refugees and expressed his support forDonald Trump and other populist positions.[56] He went on to strongly criticize both theGovernment of Germany and theGovernment of Austria for their policies during the2015 European migrant crisis.[57]
Mateschitz lived inFuschl am See, Austria and also owned the island ofLaucala inFiji, which he bought from theForbes family for £7 million.[17] He spent millions to acquire and conserve houses and castles in theAustrian Alps, saying "I want to enjoy these places myself, but I also want to take care of them".[51]
Mateschitz once said that he drank 10 to 12 cans of Red Bull every day.[58][59][60] Mateschitz died following a long period of treatment forpancreatic cancer, at his home inSt. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut on 22 October 2022, at age 78.[61][62]
Danas se imovina ovog Austrijanca hrvatskog podrijetla (neki izvori navode da ima rodbinu na zadarskom području) procjenjuje na oko tri milijarde eura. U Sloveniji se naglašava da je Mateschitz - slovenskog podrijetla, obzirom da mu je otac iz Maribora. Sam Mateschitz za sebe kaže da je "kozmopolit iz Štajerske".
Established in 2006 as a squad in which young drivers from Red Bull's prodigious talent pool could cut their F1 teeth, AlphaTauri – originally named Toro Rosso – were formed from the ashes of the plucky Minardi team.
2020 – A new name brings new impetus and AlphaTauri emerge as a true midfield force ...
...members of the Taurus™ World Stunt Academy, who are all in the Stunt industry themselves,... all are eligible to apply for financial assistance from the Taurus™ World Stunt Awards™ Foundation. Members that have been hurt or disabled in a work related accident are eligible ... The Taurus™ World Stunt Awards were envisioned by Red Bull Energy Drink CEO Dietrich Mateschitz and benefits the Taurus™ World Stunt Awards Foundation.
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