Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the company.
An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the growth in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the Formula 1 film starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Current Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Their lead driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
