Toto Wolff currently owns one-third of the Mercedes Formula 1 team while the Mercedes-Benz Group and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s chemical company INEOS hold similar stakes
Toto Wolff is in the process of selling part of his stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team. The Austrian owns 33 percent of the outfit, as well was being chief executive and team principal, but the Austrian is said to be in advanced talks over selling a small slice of his equity.
A source suggested Wolff is negotiating a sale of between five and 10 percent of the team to an outside investor. Should the sale go through, it would value the F1 team at around £4.5billion, meaning Wolff would received a nine-figure sum.
Wolff would continue in all his roles and a Mercedes spokesperson said: “The governance of the team will remain unchanged.”
But they declined to comment on the proposed change to the ownership structure, which is currently divided into three equal shares between Wolff, the Mercedes-Benz Group and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company INEOS.
“All three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula 1,” the team spokesperson added.
The deal, first reported by Sportico, would set a record-high valuation for an F1 team. McLaren, who have won back-to-back constructors’ titles in the last two seasons, were valued at over £3bn in September when Bahrain sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat took full ownership of the Woking-based outfit, along with Emirati investment group CYVN Holdings.
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All F1 teams have seen their values rise massively in recent years, thanks to a huge boom in the sport’s global audience. Commercial rights holder Liberty Media has enjoyed significant success in helping F1 to appeal to a more general audience by promoting the personalities of the drivers and other key figures.
The biggest driver of growth has been the Formula 1: Drive to Survive Netflix series which became a huge hit during the first Covid lockdown in 2020. The show is credited with attracting a new audience in the USA in particular and the country now hosts three races per year, in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas.
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INEOS paid around £200million for a third of the Mercedes F1 team in January 2022. In just under four years, the new valuation given by Wolff’s proposed stake sale would represent a 650 percent increase.
And less successful teams have also benefitted from the increased interest in the sport. For example, it is understood that American businessman Gene Haas has, in the last year, rebuffed several approaches from interested parties who were willing to offer significantly upwards of £1bn for his eponymous team.