Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Increase
The deal signifies a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Standings
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
