Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6 Billion
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to sell part of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake 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 if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second 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 so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
