(Bloomberg) -- Red Bull GmbH’s billionaire owners received the lowest payout in four years as rising costs and US competition weighed on profit growth.
The Austrian company, known for marketing its caffeinated energy drinks through sports sponsorships, distributed €810 million ($897 million) in dividends and related payments to its two groups of shareholders for 2023, Mark Mateschitz and the Yoovidhya family in Thailand.
It was the first full year since Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz died, and his son, Mark, took over his 49% stake. The Mateschitz family won’t receive a bonus payment for the first time since 2018, according to a shareholder resolution published to Austria’s corporate registry.
In recent years, Red Bull has paid a pro-rata dividend to all shareholders, as well as the additional handouts to Mateschitz’s company and to Chalerm Yoovidhya, who holds 2% individually. He has received €3.2 million annually since 2020, including for 2023.
The company has a no-debt policy, and is secretive about its operations, meaning the corporate filings are one of the only windows into its business.
Net sales rose 9% to €10.6 billion in 2023, but higher costs meant that net income increased just 3.1%, to €1.7 billion, Red Bull disclosed Tuesday in Austrian filings. Sales growth was over 20% in each of the previous two years.
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