Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Pricing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.
Wolff, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake in the region of five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Current Standings
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
