Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement signifies a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Present Performance
Mercedes are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
