Austrian billionaire founder and owner of energy drink company Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz is dead.
Gatekeepers News reports that Mateschitz succumbed to cancer on Saturday. He was aged 78.
Mateschitz’s fortune is estimated at around $25.4 billion as of October 2021 and was considered the richest man in Austria.
Together with the Thai entrepreneurial family Yoovidhya, he founded Red Bull GmbH, in which he held a 49% stake.
Mateschitz was also the founder and owner of Red Bull Racing, a Formula 1 racing team based in Milton Keynes, Britain. He had taken over the football club SV Austria Salzburg, now known as “Red Bull Salzburg”.
Little is known about Mateschitz’s private life as he rarely grant interviews. He lived in Salzburg with his long-term girlfriend.
It is not immediately clear how his death will affect the Red Bull empire. His only son Mark, 30, who most recently acted as managing director of one of his father’s investment companies is seen as a possible successor.
