Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6bn
Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding 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 Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently due to the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This trend was evident with the success of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and has grossed over $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix this year and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
