Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 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 industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own one-third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Financial Increase
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This was also seen in the success of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
