What is Mark Mateschitz's Net Worth?
Mark Mateschitz is an Austrian billionaire who has a net worth of $30 billion. Mark Mateschitz earned his fortune as a part-owner of the energy drink company Red Bull, which his father Dietrich Mateschitz co-founded in 1984. After inheriting a 49% stake in the company following his father's passing in late 2022, he became the richest Millennial in Europe. Elsewhere, Mateschitz serves as the CEO of the beverage company Thalheimer Heilwasser and the head of the management company Mark Mateschitz Beteiligungs.
Early Life and Education
Mark Mateschitz was born in May, 1992 to Anita Gerhardter and billionaire businessman Dietrich, who co-founded the energy drink company Red Bull with Chaleo Yoovidhya in 1984. He kept a low profile during his childhood and teenage years, and used his mother's surname growing up. After earning a degree in business administration from the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, he started to use his father's surname, asserting his connection with the Red Bull empire.
Red Bull History
The origins of Red Bull can be traced back to Thailand, where Dietrich Mateschitz was traveling in the early 1980s. To combat his jet lag, he asked for a drink at a hotel bar, and was served a glass of Krating Daeng (translated as "red water buffalo"), a local concoction drunk by truck drivers to help them stay awake on the road. After downing the drink, Mateschitz was overcome by a sensation of wellbeing. This sparked in him the idea for a business. After getting a license to produce the drink in Austria in 1984, Mateschitz resigned from the hygiene products company Blendax and co-founded Red Bull with Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya. The company's first cans went out to the European public in 1987, and were hugely successful among stressed-out and tired young urban professionals who needed a boost. A decade later, Red Bull hit the US market with a bang.
Mark Mateschitz (Photo by Manfred Noger ATPImages/Getty Images)
Executive Positions
Mateschitz has held various executive positions at Red Bull. He is also the CEO of the beverage company Thalheimer Heilwasser and the head of his own management company, Mark Mateschitz Beteiligungs. His management company is a part-owner of Taurea, which controls a number of Red Bull properties.
Red Bull Succession
In October of 2022, Mateschitz's father passed away from cancer. Although his illness had been known for a while, no one at Red Bull had officially determined who would take over the reins of the company. Matters of succession were complicated by the fact that the decision was not up to Mateschitz, as the main shareholder of the company was the Yoovidhya family. This was because when Red Bull was founded, 49% went to Dietrich Mateschitz, 49% to Chaleo Yoovidhya, and 2% to Yoovidhya's first-born son, Chalerm. After Chaleo passed away in 2012, his son Chalerm controlled 51% of Red Bull, granting him executive power.
While Mateschitz maintains his 49% stake in Red Bull, the Yoovidhya family has been facing great uncertainty about the future heir of the company. The family's anointed heir, Vorayuth, has been on the run from Interpol since 2012 for an intoxicated hit-and-run incident involving the death of Sergeant Wichien Klanprasert. Vorayuth had fled the scene following the incident, and his father subsequently paid $100,000 in compensation to the family of Klanprasert. Vorayuth's refugee status makes it highly improbable for him to take over the reins of Red Bull.
