Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – following McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a stake approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no comment on this. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Financial Growth
This arrangement signifies a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team 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 so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
