Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell 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 were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure in September.
Wolff, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Increase
This arrangement signifies a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie to date.
Current Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Their lead driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
