Do we like them?

Do we like Dietrich Mateschitz?

Our score: 4 out of 10. Real good through Wings for Life, set against his own 2017 remarks on refugees and the right-leaning media arm he funded.

Mateschitz was a toothpaste and cosmetics marketer from Styria who spotted a Thai tonic called Krating Daeng on a trip in the early 1980s. He partnered with its maker, Chaleo Yoovidhya, tweaked the recipe and launched Red Bull in Austria in 1987. From there it became one of the biggest drink brands on earth, and he was worth tens of billions by the end.

He turned sport into the marketing. Red Bull bought Formula One teams in 2004 and 2005, and the team went on to win titles with Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. He also built the Hangar-7 aircraft museum and revived the Red Bull Ring. Obituaries describe a deliberately private man who avoided cameras and rarely gave interviews.

The harm check is where it gets sticky. In an April 2017 interview with the Kleine Zeitung he said the borders should have been closed and properly controlled, and The FADER reported he voiced support for Trump and railed against political correctness. More than 50 refugee volunteers answered with an open letter calling his remarks false and cynical.

Then there's what he funded. The Irish Times obituary notes that Süddeutsche Zeitung described his ServusTV channel as a home for Austrian right-wing populism and compared his news website to Breitbart. His foundation said that outlet would be independent of Red Bull and ServusTV. We found nothing from him on LGBTQ+ people, women or climate in his own words, so that part of the record is a gap.

On the good side, in 2004 he co-founded Wings for Life with former motocross champion Heinz Kinigadner to fund research into spinal cord injury cures. He insisted it cost donors nothing, with Red Bull covering the running costs. He also backed the Austrian Grand Prix during the Covid pandemic. He earns real credit for that.

Nothing new on him lately: he died in October 2022, and the recent headlines are about who runs Red Bull now. So it comes down to this. He was a generous, private builder, and also a billionaire whose own remarks and media bets pulled in the wrong direction on migrants. Where you land depends on how much weight you give his platforms over his own words.