Wolff Preparing to Divest Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing movie and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
