Wolff Preparing to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake in the region of 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in market values of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and has grossed more than $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Current Performance
Mercedes are second in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix left this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.