Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Present Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
