The Red Bull story: how a drink that failed its market test now sells almost 14 billion cans a year
How Red Bull was founded: 49% each, and who got the last 2%
In 1984, a Thai drink maker and an Austrian toothpaste salesman put the same money into one company. The Thai family ended up with more than half of it, and the Austrian got to run it. How did that deal make sense for both?
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Mateschitz makes his offer, and each man brings what the other lacks. Chaleo has the drink: the recipe, the factory, years of making it. Mateschitz has none of that. But he has spent years selling toothpaste and shampoo for Blendax, so he knows how to sell to shoppers in Europe.
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So in 1984 they become partners in a new company. Each man puts in $500,000, taken from his own savings. It is a lot of money to risk on a drink that shoppers in Europe have never seen.
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In return, each man gets 49% of the company. That part of a company is his stake: it says how much of the company he owns. Same money, same stake. But 49 and 49 make only 98.
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The last 2% goes to Chaleo's son, Chalerm. So Chaleo and his son own 51% between them, more than half of the company.
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Yet the deal says Mateschitz runs the company. Chaleo stays a silent partner: he owns more than half, but he leaves the decisions to Mateschitz. That fits, because the drink will be sold in Europe, and Mateschitz knows those shoppers. Chaleo goes on making Krating Daeng in Thailand.
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To do it, Mateschitz quits his job at Blendax. He turns 40 that year. He was tired of that life anyway: "All I could see was the same gray airplanes, the same gray suits, the same gray faces," he said later.
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Now the real work begins. The drink is still a sweet Thai tonic drink in a small glass bottle, with a Thai name on it. The next three years go into making it a drink for Europe.