Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz passed away

Red Bull founder and owner Dietrich Mateschitz passed away on October 22 at the age of 78. This was initially reported by the motorsport specialist magazine late on Saturday evening speed weeka publication of the Red Bull group.

As part of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in the USA, Red Bull’s motorsport director Helmut Marko also confirmed the death of his long-time companion.

“We knew he was in a difficult state of health,” said Marko sky: “Now that it has happened, it is still unbelievable that such a great personality had to go.” Mateschitz was “unique”, “but he was a modest person”. Recently there had already been reports that Mateschitz had cancer.

The billionaire from Austria had invested a large part of his fortune in sport, especially in Formula 1 (Red Bull Racing) and several football teams such as DFB Cup winners RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg.

His sports empire also included ice hockey, alpine skiing and ski jumping. In Formula 1, Red Bull has been the world champion six times since 2010 – four times by Sebastian Vettel, 2021 and 2022 by Max Verstappen. “His merit and his visions,” says Marko, “reflect a unique personality. He was a modest person.”

Especially the commitment in football caused criticism. In Austria, he took over the traditional club Austria Salzburg and effectively wiped it out, and the RB Leipzig project, which was built with a lot of money, is also criticized by tradition-conscious fans.

The basis for his sporting success was the growth of his company, Mateschitz was a self-made billionaire: Thanks to Austria’s most valuable brand by far, he had a fortune of around 20 billion euros. But he mostly avoided public appearances.

Recently there had already been reports that Mateschitz had cancer. He is survived by his son Mark, who was born in 1993.