Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6bn
Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – following McLaren were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and has grossed over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing movie and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
