Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458m) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races 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 won a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
