Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate 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 each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement signifies a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
