78-year-old co-founder and co-owner of Red Bull Dietrich Mateschitz has just passed away on Saturday following a long-term illness.
Apparently the billionaire was worth over $27 billion, which was a massive fortune he amassed with his genius marketing skills.
According to Forbes, Mateschitz founded the popular energy drink along with Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya, who passed back in 2012.
Their product gained attention and soon dominated the sector after successfully tying the brand to extreme performance.
In fact, just last year, the company sold over 10 billion cans.
An email was sent out to the entire company of employees informing them of the billionaire’s death.
The email in question read:
“In these moments, the over-riding feeling is one of sadness,” the company said. “But soon the sadness will make way for gratitude – gratitude for what he changed, moved, encouraged and made possible for so many individual people. We will remain connected to him respectfully and lovingly.”
The company also informed employees that it was their duty to “continue his life’s work in his spirit” and at this time, express their grief in “silence and restraint.”
It was known that Mateschitz was a right-wing populist who criticized the “blindness” of European nations that welcomed the migrant crisis back in 2015, saying “it was clear from the start that most of the people weren’t refugees, at least not according to the definition of the term in the Geneva Conventions.”
Outside of politics, Mateschitz expressed a great deal of interest in Formula One racing, with the Red Bull team winning multiple championships.
The president of motor sports governing body Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) had this to say about the billionaire’s death:
“I am deeply saddened to hear the news that Dietrich Mateschitz has passed away,” Sulayem said. “He was a towering figure in motor sport and with Red Bull not only established two hugely successful Formula 1 teams but also supported motor sport of every kind and helped the careers of countless young drivers through Red Bull’s junior programmes.”
“The thoughts of all the FIA family are with his loved ones at this time and he will be greatly missed,” he added.
