Wolff Set to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – following McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no comment on this. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports film ever released.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three races remaining this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
