Wolff Preparing to Divest Shareholding Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Ownership Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Increase
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and has grossed more than $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports film to date.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
