Immediately, the club's colours were changed from their traditional purple and white to the red and white of the world's most recognisable energy drinks company. The club's stadium was quickly named the Red Bull Arena and on the pitch, the team began a period of domination never before experienced in the club's existence.
Having won three titles in their history as SV Austria Salzburg, Red Bull Salzburg have since won eight Austrian Bundesliga titles in a little over a decade and remain on course for their fifth straight league and cup double.
In many ways Red Bull's takeover created a similar response to the creation of MK Dons, with staunch Austria Salzburg fans forming a breakaway club in the lower divisions. The animosity was present on both sides, with Red Bull announcing that they had formed "a new club with no history".
Despite their dominance domestically, Red Bull Salzburg have struggled to win fans over, with many insisting the club was now nothing more than a soulless corporate entity.
- Restructuring -
The Austrians made headlines last summer after both they and fellow Red Bull-owned side RB Leipzig qualified for the Champions League, leading to a restructuring to ensure both clubs would be allowed to compete in the same competition.
In the end, Red Bull were effectively removed as the club's owners and were relegated to mere sponsors.
Both sides endured disappointing Champions League campaigns, but the Austrians bounced back to impress in the Europa League.
The ill-feeling towards Salzburg isn't limited to Austrian clubs either, with Borussia Dotmund fans boycotting the last-16 meeting between the two clubs in order to donate money to the SV Austria Salzburg phoenix club.
"We can and will not accept test-tube clubs like those from Salzburg or Leipzig, as they trample on all the values for which the popular sport of football stands in our eyes and should still stand,"explained fan group Sudtribune Dortmund.
The lack of fans didn't prevent the hosts from securing a 0-0 draw to become the first Austrian side to reach the Europea League quarter-finals, whilst they followed that up by dumping out another of the favourites in the last eight, stunning Lazio with three goals in a little over four minutes in the second leg to claim a 6-5 aggregate win.
- Evolution -
What makes their progress even more impressive is that key players have regularly been sold off in recent years, with Sadio Mane heading for the Premier League with Southampton and Liverpool-bound Naby Keita heading to sister club RB Leipzig.
That is indicative of the change in approach that the club has taken of late, opting to improve their youth sides and promote from within rather than approve big-money signings.
"They have changed," journalist Christian Hackl told Sky Sports. "When they started they brought in top stars but now fans can identify with this team.
"They have very good youth teams and they develop players. Many years ago they bought players but now they earn money from selling players."
Evidence of this approach can be seen in the form of Amadou Haidara, Diadie Samassekou, Duje Caleta-Car and even manager Marco Rose, who took charge of the youth team before climbing the ladder to the first team.
Such is the quality of the Salzburg academy that they claimed Europa Youth League glory in 2017, beating off competition from heavyweights such as Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Rose has drawn comparisons to Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp for his use of "gegenpressing", whilst he tends to opt for a 4-4-2 system more often than not as well as encouraging a high-intensity pressing game.
There have been suggestions that the 41-year-old will move on to the RB Leipzig job in the future, but for now he is focused on the Europa League semi-final against French side Marseille, who failed to beat the Austrians in either game when the pair met in the Group Stage.