Toto Wolff Set to Divest Shareholding Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6bn
Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – following McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently due to the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
