Do we like Red Bull?
Makes Red Bull energy drinks and runs sports, F1 and media businesses; based in Fuschl am See, Austria.
Our score: 4 out of 10. Mixed. It's a hugely successful, privately held brand, but it faces an open EU antitrust case and past false-advertising and F1 rule-breaking penalties. We'd hold off.
Red Bull began in 1984 when Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz teamed up with Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya. Each put in $500,000, and Mateschitz had found the drink, Krating Daeng, on a trip to Bangkok. Today it's still private. The Yoovidhya family holds about 51% and Mark Mateschitz, who inherited his father's stake after he died in 2022, holds about 49%.
After Mateschitz died, Red Bull moved to a shared leadership model. Oliver Mintzlaff and Franz Watzlawick share the chief executive job, alongside the CFO. Being private means it doesn't have to publish detailed profit figures or answer to public shareholders, which makes it harder to judge from outside.
The biggest live issue is in Europe. In November 2025 the European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation. It's looking at whether Red Bull used incentives and its shop 'category manager' role to push out rival drinks in cans bigger than 250ml, at least in the Netherlands. The Commission says it hasn't reached a conclusion, and there's been no finding of wrongdoing.
There's older baggage too. In 2014 Red Bull agreed to a $13 million US class-action settlement over claims it overstated its drinks' benefits compared with coffee, while denying any wrongdoing. In 2022 the FIA fined its F1 team $7 million for breaking the budget cap, and Red Bull accepted the breach.
In 2024 a Red Bull F1 employee accused team boss Christian Horner of inappropriate behaviour, which he denied. Two independent KCs dismissed her complaint, but ESPN reported she stayed suspended, and there were calls for more transparency. On the plus side, Red Bull says it now buys only ASI-certified aluminium. That adds up to a middling score.