Toto Wolff Set to Divest Shareholding Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake in the region of five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who both hold one-third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Financial Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values 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 F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and has grossed more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
Mercedes are second in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix left this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
