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Tuesday, 26 November 2024

PIERER Mobility and KTM

No, Red Bull heir is NOT About to Buy a Stake in KTM


So febrile is the business environment in which the management of PIERER Mobility/KTM finds itself, that a week after EICMA PIERER Mobility was moved to formally deny apparent media reports (in Austria presumably) that Mark Mateschitz's participation in PIERER Mobility and KTM did not mean that he was to acquire a stake in PIERER Mobility and KTM.



"In response to newspaper reports, PIERER Mobility would like to make it clear that there are no discussions about Mr Mark Mateschitz acquiring a stake in PIERER Mobility and KTM."

Issued on November 22 as an 'Ad Hoc' business news release, it clearly isn't only within the international motorcycle industry, but that with so many jobs already having been shed and the potential for so many more job losses, the news media in Austria is also watching what happens next very closely.


PIERER Mobility AG has moved to swiftly deny Austrian newspaper reports that (as at the time of a November 22, 2024 news release) there had been talks with Red Bull heir Mark Mateschitz about taking a stake in KTM. Two weeks earlier the manufacturer had confirmed that after extensive restructuring of its management and at least tranches of layoffs, it was looking for a "three figures of millions" cash injection to stabilise its position.

PIERRER Mobility has moved to radically restructure its management board, down from six executives to just two - Stefan Pierer and Gottfried Neumeister, who has been brought in in what appears to have been an emergency 'Company Doctor' basis.

Mark Mateschitz is the Austrian billionaire heir who owns 49% of Red Bull GmbH, the energy drink company that was co-founded by his father, Dietrich Mateschitz. In 2024, Forbes estimated Mateschitz' net worth at $39.6bn, ranking him as the 31st-richest person in the world.

Mark is the only child of the late Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, who co-founded energy drink firm Red Bull in 1987. He inherited his father's 49% stake in Red Bull after the elder Mateschitz died in October 2022 at the age of 78.