Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We are providing no comment on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise reflects the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
