Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
Wolff, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise reflects the growth 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 Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie to date.
Current Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
