Toto Wolff Set to Divest Shareholding Pricing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and CEO should the deal proceed.
Ownership Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no comment on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Their lead driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
