Red Bull fuels extreme wealth with 11 billionaires in Thailand

SINGAPORE: The 15km leap from the edge of space to the sands of New Mexico was vintage Red Bull.

With logos emblazoned across the skydiver’s spacesuit, helmet and parachute, the 1,358km-per-hour) freefall played out in 13 minutes of heart-stopping video streamed live on the Internet.

It was the kind of stunt that’s helped leave 11 surviving family members of reclusive Thai entrepreneur and sometime duck farmer Chaleo Yoovidhya with collective wealth of US$22 bil, the world’s largest fortune from energy drinks, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

While the relatives live well, “they do not bra g about it ,” said Y up ana Wiwatt ana kan tang, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Business School. Yoovidhya “set the tone being humble and modest.”

The bulk of the fortune sits in Red Bull GmbH, the Fuschl, Austria-based business that owns rights to distribute a carbonated version of Yoovidhya’s original recipe, as well as sports and adventure assets that include an airborne stunt team, “The Flying Bulls,” four professional soccer teams, two Formula One race teams and units that organise and promote events such as the space jump four years ago by daredevil Felix Baumgartner.

Chaleo Yoovidhya, who died in 2012, established closely held T.C. Pharmaceutical Industries Co Ltd in 1956 to sell antibiotics. He later pivoted to energy tonics, and in 1975 invented a drink made with caffeine, sugar, and the amino acid, taurine, that he called Krating Daeng, or “red bull” in Thai. It was sold as an inexpensive energy drink in Asia until 1987, when he teamed up with Austrian marketing whiz Dietrich Mateschitz, who discovered the drink while seeking to counteract jet lag on a business trip in the region.

Together, they built fortunes by modifying the recipe and creating a global brand around an adrenaline-fueled culture of extreme sports that catered to everyone from sleep-deprived students and truck drivers to ravers and thrill-seekers. Mateschitz, 72, controls a US$12.3 bil fortune, ranking him as the 80th-richest person on the Bloomberg index.

Representatives of the family and Mateschitz, declined to comment on their wealth. Ten Yoovidhya family members share 49% of Red Bull GmbH while Chalerm Yoovidhya, the patriarch’s eldest son, owns 2%, according to Orbis, a database of closely-held companies published by Bureau van Dijk, and corporate filings from the Hong Kong Companies Registry. The remaining 49% is held by Mateschitz.

Seven members of the Yoovidhya family also own T.C. Pharmaceutical, which controls 51% of Red Bull China, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private holdings.

The company began selling the original version of the drink in China in 1993 and established a manufacturing facility in Hainan province. It expanded the operation two years later and formed a joint venture with Chanchai Ruayrungruang, a Thai-Chinese entrepreneur who also goes by the Chinese name Yan Bin. Previous wealth estimates apply full ownership of Red Bull China to Ruayrungruang, the world’s 325th-richest person with US$4.7 bil, according to the index. Mateschitz doesn’t have a stake in the Asian ventures. Reignwood Group, the company Ruayrungruang founded, didn’t respond to requests seeking comment on his net worth.

Booming Industry

Red Bull has helped create a booming industry, with global energy-drink sales of US$43 bil in 2015, according to Euromonitor, which estimates the segment will continue growing at an 11% compound annual rate through 2020. Red Bull has a 30.2% global share of the market and T.C. Pharmaceutical 11.8%, according to the London-based research group. – Bloomberg