Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Financial Growth
The deal signifies a significant increase in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
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 (£458m) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team 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 secured victory in 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's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
