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 – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The governance 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 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 in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and has grossed more than $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Current Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two 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 Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
