Wolff Set to Divest Shareholding Valuing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – following McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Ownership Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity 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 over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Current Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
