Toto Wolff Offloads £230 Million in Mercedes Shares to US Tech Tycoon as F1 Team Hits a Jaw-Dropping £4.6 Billion Valuation

FORMULA ONE chief Toto Wolff has sold a minority stake in Mercedes in a deal worth hundreds of millions.

CrowdStrike founder George Kurtz has bought into the F1 team by taking 15% of the one-third stake held by principal , both parties announced on Thursday.

Toto Wolff has sold some of his shares in MercedesCredit: AP The deal values Wolff’s team at over £4.5billionCredit: Getty

No financial details were given for the personal acquisition but Forbes reported

Wolff owns one-third of the team so he has sold off five per cent in total.

It is claimed via BBC that the price is worth $300million (£230m).

Austrian Wolff, and,‘s petrochemicals giant Ineos each hold one-third stakes and the governance and leadership of the team will not be affected by Thursday’s deal.

Ineos bought its own stake for £208million in 2020, representing a healthy increase for Wolff and Mercedes in the years since.

American Kurtz, who has competed at Le Mans and other endurance events in sportscars, will become the team’s technology adviser and joins the strategic steering committee alongside Wolff, Mercedes-Benz chairman Ola Kaellenius, and Ineos founder Ratcliffe.

He said all the other shareholders were fully aware of the transaction as it unfolded.

Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike has been a team partner since 2019 with branding on the car and apparel.

Kurtz told reporters in a video call that the and likely to grow with a young, fresh demographic attracted to the sport.

He said: “We think there’s a great opportunity to grow the sport, particularly in the U.S and particularly within the technology space where we can bring more sponsors in.

“I know the U.S. market, I know the technology players and technology has been and will continue to be a big part of this sport going into the future and the folks who can unlock technology will have the best performance advantage.”

Mercedes won eight constructors’ titles in a row between 2014-21 and are currently second overall behind champions , who also use the German manufacturer’s engines.

Kurtz pointed to the number of female fans attracted to the sport and said the U.S. market remained relatively untapped despite the success of Netflix docu-series ‘Drive to Survive’ and‘s F1 movie.

He added: “It’s a thriving business and from that standpoint if you have a thriving business with more market opportunity, particularly in the U.S., in my opinion you are going to see valuations grow.

“Can it grow into something like the NBA or like the NFL? I think so. Which is why I invested.”

The entrepreneur indicated he could add other sports to a business portfolio that includes extensive real estate holdings.

Ferrari still lead the way as the most valuable F1 team

He continued: “We’re always looking at opportunities, we think sports is a great area.

“We like the NBA, we like hockey, we like many of the areas that we’ve touched on.

“It has to be the right opportunity and more importantly it’s got to be with the right fit and team.

“But we are certainly open to other opportunities as they come up.”

Kurtz said he had total alignment with Wolff, subscribed to his leadership style and had been discussing taking a stake for several years.

He was coy about the possibility of increasing it in future.

He ruled out, however, one day taking on a greater role and perhaps replacing Wolff at the helm: “My focus is on CrowdStrike and it took me 14 years to build this up.

“That’s where my day job lies. Toto is the guy in charge, he’s the leader.”