Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Increase
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races remaining this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won 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 Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
