After the death of his longtime figurehead Dietrich Mateschitz as manager, the beverage, sports and media group Red Bull, based in Fuschl, Austria, is getting new management.

Franz Watzlawick, formerly responsible for Germany in the company and for global sales, will be responsible for the beverage business as CEO (CEO Beverage Business).

Alexander Kirchmayr is responsible for finance (CFO).

The previous football manager at RB Leipzig, Oliver Mintzlaff, will be responsible for sports activities (CEO Corporate Projects and Investments).

Mark Mateschitz, the son of the company founder, informed the workforce of this, as Red Bull explained on Friday.

Mark Mateschitz has therefore resigned from his role as Head of Organics, which is the soft drink line.

Michael Seiser

Business correspondent for Austria and Hungary based in Vienna.

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Michael Horini

Football correspondent Europe in Berlin.

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"The decision was difficult for me because the organics are a project close to my heart.

But I don't believe in being both an employee and a shareholder in the same company.

I will concentrate on my role as a shareholder, I will interpret it and get involved in a way that I think is sensible and necessary," Mateschitz is quoted as saying in the broadcast.

He is heir to a fortune worth billions.

Thanks to the success of the caffeinated soda, his father was the richest Austrian and, according to the Forbes list, was one of the hundred wealthiest people in the world.

Red Bull was managed "as suggested and desired by my father and I and supported by our Thai partners".

After all, the Thai family Yoovidhya holds the majority in the world's leading energy drink specialist via the TCP Group.

Former top athlete and Puma manager

Mintzlaff is now prophesying.

It has long been said that the ambitious football manager could become a big player in the overall group.

He and his club are now one of the big three in Germany behind Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

The upstart RB Leipzig was only founded 13 years ago and started out in the fifth division with a lot of money from the RB group and under controversial circumstances in the football world.

The former top athlete and Puma manager gained greater recognition in the industry at the beginning of the Corona crisis.

He represented the interests of the league there, above all with the then Bayern chairman Rummenigge and BVB managing director Watzke.

And also based on them.

"These are two personalities who have managed or are still managing two big clubs very successfully for many years - and who bring a certain entrepreneurship with them, which is rare in the Bundesliga in this form," says Mintzlaff.

He took up the position of Managing Director at RB Leipzig in 2016, and from 2014 to 2017 he was Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull GmbH, responsible for all of the group's soccer activities.

Mintzlaff makes no secret of the fact that he "feels very attached" to the Red Bull brand.

And not only in terms of content and the various areas in the group.

The appreciation applies "also to the owner and the people involved with whom I deal".

Most valuable soft drink brand in Europe

In addition to Mintzlaff, Marcus Weber (CMO Beverage Business) will continue to be responsible for global beverage marketing, report to Watzlawick and also receive power of attorney.

Roland Concin, Walter Bachinger and Volker Viechtbauer, who are leaving their previous positions, will stay on board as advisors for Red Bull.

"With your experience and know-how, you will support the Board of Directors and ultimately all of us in successfully continuing my father's work in his spirit."

As managing directors of Distribution & Marketing GmbH, Bachinger and Viechtbauer will "support me personally," explained Mateschitz. The GmbH holds 49 percent of the shares in Red Bull GmbH and is owned by Mateschitz.

After the death of his father two weeks ago, the question of leadership in the company, which most recently generated sales of almost eight billion euros with 13,000 employees, remained unresolved.

The silver-blue cans with the two red bulls in front of a bright yellow sun are a code for the most valuable soft drink brand in Europe - at least that's what this year's ranking by the brokerage office Brand Finance says.

The brand was fueled by content marketing, for which the extensive and not uncontroversial sports and media activities stood.

With the new structure, the group, which in addition to drinks is also heavily involved in sports and media, will in future be managed by several people.

This is accompanied by a change in the appearance of Red Bull, which was previously closely associated with Dietrich Mateschitz.

Here, too, earlier words by the previous Crown Prince Oliver Mintzlaff have a prophetic effect: "I fundamentally believe that transformation and change are good and important for every company, that there must always be new impulses, after a while a new management style and possibly also a different orientation - but without tearing down or changing all the guard rails that were previously set correctly".