Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Pricing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6 Billion
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Ownership Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Financial Increase
The deal would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits recently due to the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Current Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
