Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own one-third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no comment on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
