Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations 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 – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners 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 acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the success of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
Mercedes are second in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
