Chaleo was born in Central Thailand at some point between 1922 and 1932 to a poor Thai-Chinese family that raised ducks and traded fruit in Phichit.
With little formal education, he worked for his parents, then moved to Bangkok. He became an antibiotics salesman, before quitting to set up his own small pharmaceutical company, TC Pharmaceuticals, in the early 1960s.[5][6] Later, after a claimed stroke of "Divine Inspiration", he developed an energy-boosting beverage that was first introduced in 1976. The logo depicts two large, red bulls charging each other, which are not cattle but wild gaur, a bovine species native to Southeast Asia called krathing (กระทิง) in Thai.
Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian salesman for a German company, found the drink cured his jet lag,[5][6] and entered into partnership with Chaleo in 1984.[5] In 1987, the two launched an export version labelled "Red Bull," for which Chaleo provided the formula and Mateschitz the marketing. Each put up US$500,000 for 49% of the Red Bull energy drink franchise, with Chaleo's son, Chalerm, owning the remaining 2%.[6] Chaleo continued to own TC Pharmaceuticals, which manufactured other energy drinks in Thailand, and was part owner of Piyavate Hospital, a private hospital in Thailand.