Chaleo Yoovidhya was a reclusive billionaire who rose from poverty in Thailand to co-create Red Bull, one of the world’s most popular energy drinks with annual sales of 4.6 billion cans.
Chaleo developed the formula for the drink in the 1970s in his native Thailand. It quickly became popular as a pick-me-up with truck drivers and factory workers on long shifts. He later formed Red Bull with the Austrian businessman Dietrich Mateschitz in 1984 and modified the drink for Western consumers.
Market research was not encouraging, but Red Bull enjoyed success after it was launched in Austria in 1987 and then in the rest of Europe, the US and the Middle East. It is now sold in 70 countries, and Forbes this year ranked Chaleo as the third wealthiest person in Thailand and 205th in the world with an estimated $5 billion fortune.
Benefiting from a memorable advertising slogan, “Red Bull gives you wings”, the drink, which was packaged in a slim blue, silver and red can, became popular among young city workers leaving their desks on a Friday afternoon in the mood to celebrate. Vodka and Red Bull became the drink of choice for many young revellers.
Chaleo had developed the formula for the drink by combining caffeine, vitamins, sucrose, glucose and taurine. The inclusion of taurine was controversial: the amino acid, discovered in the bile of bulls, is banned in some countries because of fears that it leads to high blood pressure and increases the risk of stroke. As a result Red Bull was banned in France between 1996 and 2008 and was also prohibited for a time in Denmark and Norway.
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Chaleo Yoovidhya was born in the town of Phichit, Thailand, in 1923 to a Chinese father and a Thai mother. His parents earned their living raising ducks and trading fruit. As a young man he was employed as a bus conductor before working as an antibiotics salesman. He helped his brother in a pharmacy in Bangkok and later set up his own pharmaceutical factory in the city. In 1962 he founded T. C. Pharmaceuticals, which developed the energy drink Krathing Daeng (which means red buffalo in Thai) in the 1970s. A Japanese company, Taisho Pharmaceutical, had developed a high-energy drink aimed at preventing truck drivers from falling asleep at the wheel.
Chaleo started to work on his own formula and developed a reddish concoction based on natural ingredients. Rather than launch the drink in Bangkok, he chose to market the drink in the provinces by handing out free cans to truck drivers, who soon spread the word throughout the country.
Mateschitz, then international marketing director for the toothpaste company Blendax, drank a can of Krathing Daeng while on a business trip to Thailand in 1982. Apparently finding that the drink seemed to help to combat his jetlag, he approached Chaleo and proposed a collaboration to market the drink globally. The ingredients were modified and the drink was carbonated. Their company, Red Bull, was founded in 1984 with Mateschitz and Chaleo taking a 49 per cent share each and Chaleo’s son taking the remaining 2 per cent.
Red Bull was officially launched in 1987 in Austria and then in the rest of Europe. It was sold in the US from 1997 and the Middle East from 2000.
Chaleo was known as a reclusive figure who had not given a media interview or even made a public appearance for more than 30 years. But his dislike of publicity did not matter because the sales of the drink boomed on the back of his charismatic partner’s marketing strategies, which included releasing a fleet of Red Bull-branded Beetles and Minis onto Britain’s streets with an outsized can of the drink perched on top of the vehicle.
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Brand awareness and its success with young people was also boosted by the company’s sponsorship of extreme sports and outlandish events such as a competition to create non-motorised flying machines.
The company also owned several sports teams, including New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg as well as a Formula One racing team that has won the world championship for the past two years.
Chaleo and Mateschitz continued to launch new products including Red Bull Energy Shots, a concentrated, non-carbonated mini version. In 2008 they launched Red Bull Cola based on natural ingredients including coca plant extracts. The new product helped to boost global sales by 8 per cent although it became mired in controversy after it emerged that traces of cocaine were found in the drink in Germany in 2009. The traces were so minute, however, that the product was cleared as safe.
Chaleo was reported to have been married twice with five children from his first marriage and six from his second.
Chaleo Yoovidhya, Thai businessman, was born on August 17, 1923. He died on March 17, 2012, aged 88