Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Pricing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6bn
Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own one-third of the company.
An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its share for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Current Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three races remaining in the current championship.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
