Wolff Preparing to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Structure
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own one-third of the company.
An official representative said: "We are providing no comment on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a significant increase in value of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 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 Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
