Billionaire Red Bull Owner Dietrich Mateschitz Dies At 78

Red Bull co-founder and co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz passed away on Saturday after battling a long-term illness. He was 78.

The Austrian businessman was worth more than $27 billion, a fortune that he amassed with his marketing genius which he refined while at a German consumer products company.

In 1987, he founded the energy drink with Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya, who died in 2012, Forbes reported. The energy drink was successful and has dominated the sector due to their success in tying the brand to extreme performance. The company sold nearly 10 billion cans last year.

Red Bull sent an email to the entire company informing employees of Mateschitz’s passing.

“In these moments, the over-riding feeling is one of sadness,” the company said. “But soon the sadness will make way for gratitude – gratitude for what he changed, moved, encouraged and made possible for so many individual people. We will remain connected to him respectfully and lovingly.”

The company said that it was the job of every employee to “continue his life’s work in his spirit.”

The company asked that employees respect his wish that they express their grief in “silence and restraint.”

Mateschitz was a right-wing populist who slammed the “blindness” of European nations for welcoming the migrant crisis that engulfed the continent in 2015, saying that “it was clear from the start that most of the people weren’t refugees, at least not according to the definition of the term in the Geneva Conventions.”

Mateschitz blasted political correctness from “intellectual elites” and said he fervently opposed being told what to think.

Mateschitz was big into Formula One racing, with the Red Bull team winning multiple championships.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of motor sports governing body Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), responded to Mateschitz’s death in a statement Saturday afternoon.

“I am deeply saddened to hear the news that Dietrich Mateschitz has passed away,” Sulayem said. “He was a towering figure in motor sport and with Red Bull not only established two hugely successful Formula 1 teams but also supported motor sport of every kind and helped the careers of countless young drivers through Red Bull’s junior programmes.”

“The thoughts of all the FIA family are with his loved ones at this time and he will be greatly missed,” he added.

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McConnell-aligned super PAC pulls $5M from New Hampshire Senate race

The Republican super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that it would cancel the millions of dollars it had reserved to spend on TV ads in New Hampshire's Senate race. 

The Senate Leadership Fund said it would slash $5.6 million from the state, which was one of the party's top targets to flip. 

In a statement to Fox News, Senate Leadership Fund president Steven Law said "as the cycle comes to a close, we are shifting resources to where they can be most effective to achieve our ultimate goal: winning the majority." 

The move comes just two weeks after the National Republican Senatorial Committee – the Senate GOP’s re-election arm – scrapped its own television ad reservations in New Hampshire. 

TOP GOP SENATE SUPER PAC SPENDING $23 MILLION TO TARGET HASSAN IN BATTLEGROUND NEW HAMPSHIRE

At the beginning of September, the fund reserved $23 million to run ads in the battleground state.

However, that was before Republican and former Army Gen. Don Bolduc won the Sept. 13 primary. 

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Bolduc is resolute that he would not support McConnell as the GOP leader.

"General Bolduc has defied the naysayers from the beginning and that’s the same approach he is going to take through the finish line to victory," Bolduc campaign spokeswoman Kate Constantini said in a statement.

Bolduc is running against Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan.

The Senate Leadership Fund told The Hill that the cut would begin on Oct. 25.

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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