Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Valuing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no comment on the matter. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Increase
The deal signifies a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in market values of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458m) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie to date.
Current Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three races remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
