Red Bull Founders Rebuild in China After Battle of Billionaires
- Voovidhya family to invest $150 million in China over 3 years
- Brand, rights in country have been in dispute since breakup
Red Bull energy drink
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergRed Bull’s founding family said they will invest $150 million to re-establish the energy-drink brand in China, where they’ve been involved in a battle of billionaires for several years with a former partner.
Thailand’s Voovidhya family’s TCP Group formed a venture in China with the Reignwood Group, controlled by Chanchai Ruayrungruang (also known as Yan Bin) in the mid-1990s. The partnership, Red Bull Vitamin Drink Co. Ltd., expired in September 2018, TCP said in a statement. The brand, products and distribution rights have been the subjects of litigation in various centers since the partnership broke up, with Reignwood retaining control of the China business.
The Voovidhya family was ranked Asia’s sixth-richest dynasty, with a fortune of $24.5 billion, according to a Bloomberg report in August. Chanchai, who also owns Wentworth Club Ltd., is worth $2.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
TCP said in its statement that its sales in China last year, the first full period since the end of the venture, were about $150 million. Closely held Reignwood’s revenue from Red Bull in the country was 22.3 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) in 2019, according to a report by Yicai Global.