Toto Wolff Set to Sell Stake Valuing Mercedes F1 at £4.6bn
Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no comment on this. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports film to date.
Current Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
