Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding approximately 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Valuation Increase
The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the growth in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
