Wolff Preparing to Sell Stake Valuing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Financial Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three races remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
