Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
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 growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently due to the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
