Toto Wolff Preparing to Divest Shareholding Valuing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6bn
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake approximately 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Ownership Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Increase
The deal would represent a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in market values of F1 teams recently due to the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
Mercedes are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
