Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload 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 – following McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure in September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding approximately 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Financial Growth
The deal would represent a significant increase in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the growing popularity of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing film and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three races remaining this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won 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 straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
