Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The management structure of the team will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits 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 starring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports film ever released.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
