Dietrich Mateschitz
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Dietrich Mateschitz (born May 20, 1944 in St. Marein im Mürztal, Styria) is an Austrian businessman and billionaire. He is of Croatian heritage[1]. He lives in Salzburg, but also owns Laucala Island, off Fiji, which he bought from the Forbes family for £ 7 million.[2] He holds 49 percent of shares in the energy drink producer Red Bull. Mateschitz was raised by two primary-school-teacher parents who separated when he was very young.[3] Although never married, he reportedly has a son.[2] He rarely drinks alcohol and does not smoke, and his friends include Bernd Pischetsrieder, the former Volkswagen boss. [2] He holds a pilot's licence and enjoys flying a Falcon 900 and a Piper Super Cub.[2]
After taking ten years to graduate from the Hochschule für Welthandel (now Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration) with a marketing degree,[3] Mateschitz's first employer was Unilever, where he got to grips with detergents. He subsequently moved to Blendax, the German cosmetics company since bought by Procter & Gamble, where he worked on, among other things, in the marketing of Blendax tooth paste.[4] It was as part of his travels for Blendax that he discovered the drink that would later become Red Bull.[3] In 1984, he founded Red Bull GmbH [5] with his Thai partners Chaleo and Chalerm Yoovidhya with the launch in Austria in 1987. [4] Subsequently, he turned the Red Bull drink into the world market leader among energy drinks. Beside the crystal group Swarovski, the candy producer Manner, and the lingerie company Palmers, Red Bull is Austria's only consumer brand with a worldwide reputation.
Mateschitz is known as a marketing specialist. His company is famous for its creative advertising and as a sponsor for many types of extreme sports. In 2004, Mateschitz bought the Formula 1 team Jaguar Racing from the Ford Motor Company. It was subsequently renamed to Red Bull Racing. Then, at the end of 2005, Mateschitz joined forces with Austrian former F1 driver Gerhard Berger, and purchased the Italian-registered Minardi team from Australian Paul Stoddart. The plan was to keep the team registered at the Minardi plant in Faenza, but to change the name to Squadra Toro Rosso. This is Italian for Team Red Bull, but the word Squadra was seen to be more a footballing term, and so the team was instead called Scuderia Toro Rosso, mimicking the famous Italian giants Scuderia Ferrari.
Mateschitz plans to set up a testing site for the automobile industry at the Austrian race circuit A1-Ring. There are already very far developed plans, but residents of the area object. He also plans to create an Avionautik Akademie in Zeltweg jointly with the Austrian Army. A very fit-looking 60-year-old bachelor, he has his own hangar, where he keeps his collection of old planes, including a Douglas DC-6 which once belonged to Marshal Tito. He also sponsors the World Stunt Awards, an annual fundraiser to benefit his Taurus Foundation, which helps injured stunt professionals.
In April 2005, he bought the Austrian football club SV Austria Salzburg and in March 2006, he bought the American soccer club MetroStars; both clubs were subsequently (and somewhat controversially) renamed for his famous drink, as Red Bull Salzburg and Red Bull New York, respectively.
He also owns a NASCAR Sprint Cup team called Team Red Bull which fields two Toyota Camrys for drivers Brian Vickers and A.J. Allmendinger (with Mike Skinner replacing Allmendinger for several races in 2008), who drive the #83 and #84 cars respectively. The team first debuted in 2006 with Bill Elliott in a Dodge purchased from Bill Davis Racing. The team failed to qualify for its first race at Lowes Motor Speedway, as well as the two subsequent races with Allmendinger. On the team's fulltime debut at the 2007 Daytona 500, both cars failed to make the race. Since then, both cars have made some races, but failed to make others. Brian Vickers scored Toyota's first top 10 at California Speedway with a 10th place finish. Vickers also scored Toyota's first top 5 finish (and the team's best finish) at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Since the start of the 2008 season, Vickers and the #83 team improved by leaps and bounds to qualify for every race and make the weekly Top 35 Owners' Points exemption.
He also owns Seitenblicke, Austria's top society magazine, avoids the celebrity circuit and watches most Formula One races on TV (despite owning two teams).[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Dietrich Mateschitz - News, photos, topics, and quotes - Daylife
- ^ a b c d e Big man drives forward energy-packed brand. Peter Klinger. The Times (London). February 25, 2006.
- ^ a b c The Soda With Buzz. Kerry A. Dolan. Forbes. Pg. 126 Vol. 175 No. 6. March 28, 2005.
- ^ a b Red Bull CEO takes foot off gas. The Nation (Thailand). November 26, 2001.
- ^ Grabbing the drinks market by the horns. The Sunday Herald. May 7, 2000.
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