Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Stake Valuing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6bn
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure in September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We are providing no comment on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Increase
The deal signifies a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations 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 success of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports movie to date.
Current Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix this year and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.