Dietrich Mateschitz (born May 20, 1944 in Sankt Marein im Mürztal, Styria) is an Austrian businessman and billionaire. He lives in Salzburg, but also owns Laucala Island, off Fiji, which he bought from the Forbes family for £ 7 million.[1] 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.[2] Although never married, he reportedly has a son.[1] He rarely drinks alcohol and does not smoke, and his friends include Bernd Pischetsrieder, the former Volkswagen boss. [1] He holds a pilot's licence and enjoys flying a Falcon 900 and a Piper Super Cub.[1] After taking ten years to graduate from the Hochschule für Welthandel (now Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration) with a marketing degree,[2] 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.[3] It was as part of his travels for Blendax that he discovered the drink that would later become Red Bull.[2] In 1984, he founded Red Bull GmbH [4] with his Thai partners Chaleo and Chalerm Yoovidhya with the launch in Austria in 1987. [3] 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.
