Vienna The Austrian self-made billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz was so unconventional that he elevated this characteristic to a business principle. It started with his appearance. The founder of the energy drink manufacturer Red Bull didn’t like ties, he usually wore jeans and a three-day beard.
Self-made men are often rather lazy students, at least that’s what they like to say about themselves. Mateschitz is said to have had a hard time graduating from high school, and at the university he is said to have been a slow-moving student. The entrepreneur has now died of a serious illness at the age of 78.
The construction of his company is also unconventional. Actually, Red Bull GmbH, where Mateschitz acted as managing director, is purely a marketing company. Mateschitz never thought of producing the energy drink himself. The Vorarlberg company Rauch Fruchtsäfte has been responsible for this since the beginning.
This operates bottling plants in western Austria and in the municipality of Widnau in eastern Switzerland, from where the beverage cans are exported all over the world. Thanks to Red Bull, Switzerland has become a major beverage exporter, and the export of Red Bull cans is clearly reflected in Switzerland’s foreign trade statistics.
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A certain aversion to banks and borrowed capital often seems to be typical of successful entrepreneurs. “You don’t go into debt. That’s also a virtue,” said Mateschitz in an interview with the Austrian business magazine “Trend”.
Red Bull GmbH is a closed company from which hardly any information leaks out. The history of its founding appears all the more colourful. In the early 1980s, Mateschitz worked as marketing manager for the toothpaste manufacturer Blendax, which belonged to the Dutch consumer goods manufacturer Unilever. In the bar of Hong Kong’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel, he is said to have noticed a list of Japan’s largest taxpayers in “Newsweek”.
Not Toyota or Honda took first place, but the manufacturer of an energy drink. Apparently it was possible to achieve high margins with such a drink. Mateschitz’ business acumen was awakened.
In Thailand, he maintained a business relationship with the Yoovidhya family of industrialists, who also sold an energy drink called “Krating Daeng” (“Red Bull”). In 1984, the two parties came to an agreement and founded a joint venture that still exists today as Red Bull GmbH. Mateschitz has held a 49 percent minority interest in this company to this day, with the remainder being owned by the Yoovidhya family.
After founding the company, Mateschitz worked on the product and its marketing for almost three years. The now world-famous advertising slogan “Red Bull gives wings” was created at that time, which on the one hand expresses irony and on the other hand conveys the core message of the product: Red Bull makes you perk up.
The substance taurine is said to be responsible for the stimulating effect of the drink. Scientists doubt this effect, and many consider the energy drink to be a drink that tastes like gummy bears anyway.
On April 1, 1987, Mateschitz finally launched Red Bull in his home country of Austria. Five years later, Hungary was the first foreign market to be added. Over the years, Red Bull has grown into a global company, and its largest market is now the United States.
involvement in professional sports
Competitors have repeatedly challenged Red Bull with competing products. However, the company was able to maintain its leading position, although the drink is considered relatively expensive. 9.8 billion cans of Red Bull were sold last year. Sales amounted to 7.8 billion euros, net profit was 1.1 billion euros.
Because Red Bull doesn’t own any factories and has outsourced sales, there’s even more money left over for marketing. In 2021, the company spent 1.6 billion euros on this, around 20 percent of sales. This value had already been around 30 percent.
The company of the self-made millionaire is particularly involved in motorsport.
(Photo: dpa)
In his book The Red Bull Story, author Wolfgang Fürweger writes that Red Bull spends a third of its marketing budget on sports sponsorship, and half of that goes to motorsport. Among other things, Red Bull owns four football clubs, including clubs in Salzburg and Leipzig.
Mateschitz was particularly successful in car racing. German Sebastian Vettel won four world titles for Red Bull Racing between 2010 and 2013. Another PR coup by the Austrian was spectacular: In 2012, Felix Baumgartner jumped to earth from a height of 39 kilometers with a parachute. The promotion was called Red Bull Stratos.
Mateschitz never saw himself as a patron with these sports commitments, but as a sponsor. Sports clubs and big events should always help boost Red Bull’s sales.
Mateschitz never thought much of corporate structures. He hates reading reports, he told Trend magazine. “If anything, I only skim short summaries. With us, a lot is done verbally, directly, without a lot of hierarchical barricades.”
Involvement in professional sports was a key marketing strategy for the company.
(Photo: IMAGO/PanoramaC)
Nevertheless, Red Bull’s activities are now so diverse that the company, like all large companies, has a branched structure and employs almost 14,000 people. The core is Red Bull GmbH, which is managed by a five-member Board of Directors. In addition to Mateschitz, the committee has four members with the rank of authorized signatory. The business areas of motorsport, football, ice hockey and event management have been spun off as corporate projects.
However, it is difficult to distinguish precisely between Red Bull activities and Mateschitz’ personal projects. The entrepreneur has acquired hotels, for example in the Austrian state of Styria, where he comes from, and he also owns the Fiji island of Laucala. Mateschitz also had a passion for noble Trakehner horses. And in Salzburg he supported a clinic that conducts research in the field of paraplegia.
Whether his son Mark will take over the management of the company is uncertain. Observers say he was not actually set up as a successor.
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