Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Valuing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Ownership Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Financial Increase
The deal signifies a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie to date.
Current Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
