Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold one-third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a significant increase in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports film ever released.
Current Performance
Mercedes are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
