Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure in 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 will remain as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and has grossed more than $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
