Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Pricing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6bn
Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise reflects the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the most successful sports film ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
