Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn 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 five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos bought its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three races left this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 grands prix this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
