Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Valuing Mercedes Formula 1 Team 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 estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no comment on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year 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 team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.