Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure in September.
Wolff, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the company.
An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
