Dietrich Mateschitz was born on 20 May 1944, in Sankt Marein-im-Mürztal, Austria, into a family of Croatian descent. Dietrich is best known as a co-founder of the drink company Red Bull, and is ranked by Forbes magazine as the richest person in Austria and 116th richest in the world in 2015.
So just how rich is Dietrich Mateschitz? Forbes estimates that Dietrich’s net worth is over $12.2 billion, the majority of which has been accumulated through his interest in Red Bull over the last 30 years.
Dietrich Mateschitz Net Worth $12.2 Billion
Dietrich Mateschitz graduated from (now) Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration with a marketing degree, although he took 10 years to complete it. Mateschitz’s first worked marketing detergents for Unilever, then subsequently joined Blendax, the German cosmetics company since bought by Procter & Gamble, mostly marketing toothpaste. These jobs were just the basis of Dietrich Mateschitz’s net worth.
It was during commercial travelling that Dietrich Mateschitz discovered Krating Daeng, the drink that later became Red Bull. In 1984, he founded Red Bull GmbH with Thai partner Chaleo Yoovidhya, and launched it in Austria in 1987. They subsequently turned Red Bull into a world market leader among energy drinks over the next 20 years, currently operating in more than 165 countries, and with annual sales of almost $7 billion. It is clear where the main source of Dietrich Mateschitz’s net worth lies.
Interestingly, and certainly noticeably, Mateschitz’s brands are widely marketed with physical and mental attributes needed for extreme sports through commercial sponsorship. In 2004, Mateschitz bought the Jaguar Formula One team and renamed it Red Bull Racing, and in 2005 combined with his close friend and former F1 driver Gerhard Berger to buy the Italian Minardi team and rename it Scuderia Toro Rosso, meaning Red Bull in Italian. Red Bull Racing subsequently won the Formula 1 Constructors Championship and Drivers Championship with Sebastian Vettel from 2010-13. The effect of this project on Dietrich Mateschitz’s net worth isn’t known.
Dietrich also owned a US NASCAR team called Team Red Bull, which was entered in the Sprint Cup Series and the K&N Pro Series East from 2006 to 2011.
In late 2004, Mateschitz bought the former Formula One circuit A1-Ring, renaming it the Red Bull Ring, which opened in 2011 and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix round of the Formula One World Championship in 2014.
In 2005, Dietrich Mateschitz bought the Austrian football club SV Austria Salzburg, and in 2006, the American club MetroStars; with the clubs renamed Red Bull Salzburg and Red Bull New York. In 2007, Red Bull founded Red Bull Brasil, a football team based in Campinas, Brazil. In May 2009, he founded a German football club called RB Leipzig, and since 2012 has been the owner of the German ice hockey club EHC München, now named Red Bull München. However, Dietrich avoids the celebrity circuit and watches most sports on TV despite all the aforementioned ownerships.
In his personal life, Dietrich Mateschitz’s partner is Marion Feichtner, with whom he lives in Fuschl am See, Austria, but he also owns Laucala Island, off Fiji. In addition to his commercial and sporting interests, in 2013 Mateschitz purchased DeepFlight Super Falcon, an extreme $1.7 million submarine for guests at his Laucala Island resort.
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