Billionaire Chaleo Yoovidhya, one of the founders of energy drink Red Bull, died at the age of 89 in Thailand, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported on Saturday.
Chaleo died in a hospital in the Thai city of Bangkok. He was the country's second richest man with a fortune of $5 billion last year according to Forbes.
His TC Pharmaceuticals company has been producing a tonic drink called Krating Daeng ("Red Bull") since 1970s using caffeine, taurine and B vitamins as ingredients. The drink became very popular among factory shift workers and truck drivers.
In the 1980s Chaleo founded Red Bull with Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz and they started selling the drink in Austria in 1987.
Nowadays Red Bull is being sold in 160 countries worldwide and is one of the most famous energy drinks.
