Toto Wolff Set to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – following McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.
Wolff, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The management structure of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie to date.
Present Standings
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
