Chaleo, Red Bull Co-Founder and Thailand’s 3rd-Richest Man, Dies | Hacker News Reader

Chaleo, Red Bull Co-Founder and Thailand’s 3rd-Richest Man, Dies

bloomberg.com

12 pointsfosk8 comments

Given that he was 89, it sounds like he lived a long and full life.

I was expecting this to be the story of a guy who died young using his own product. I was glad to see that wasn't the case.

May I ask the reason this belongs on Hacker News? The article doesn't link this particularly to my interests. Is it just that many readers are fond of Red Bull?

Probably. Lots of programmers (me included) like raging on their code while hopped up on energy drinks, and RB is one of the originals.

Agreed. Along with great headphones, it helps me get "in the zone" once I sit down at my computer in the afternoon after a morning of stupid/boring meetings... Its effect is probably 50% psychological at this point :)

I think what's interesting is that Red Bull has been around for over 30 years. Growing up in Thailand, I have been aware of Red Bull in its original form for as long as I was aware. All the time we would see commercials in Thailand saying it's all over the world. I just figured it was exported as is. But years later when I did see that Red Bull had made it to US shores, it was vastly different from the syrupy version marketed to Thai truck drivers to stay awake during their long hauls.

I think the story of how they managed to transform a niche product into the hottest club drink (redbull + vodka) and the whole extreme sports marketing angle is very interesting.

Incidentally my mom is classmates with the person who came up with the formula.

Ok. What IS Red Bull, anyway? It tastes terrible to me. Do some people like it?

THe most famous energy drink... most youngsters I see drinking it mix it with alcohol to "get pumped" for the clubz.

Oh, I know what it is - I've tried it and found it horrible.

I meant, what is it supposed to be? Is it supposed to taste like something?

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