Having invested heavily in Mercedes nearly a decade ago, Toto Wolff has seen an incredible growth in the team’s valuation over the years. As of now, the Austrian’s stake in the Brackley-based team stands at nearly $3,229,125,000 and pundits suggest it might be the perfect time for Wolff to sell his shares, especially given the team’s winless season in 2023.
Per a report from Mirror.co.uk, Sky Sports’ F1 Pundit Craig Slater raised a question about the potential of Wolff selling off his stake in Mercedes, given F1’s global popularity is arguably at its apex.
“If you were Dorilton or Toto Wolff or Lawrence Stroll, who bought it via liquidation, yes, he paid off a lot of the creditors, but you’ve maybe paid a couple hundred million, or I think Toto paid 50 million euros for his stake, it’s now worth three billion or whatever. Does that have its own incentive to sell, when in a few years you’ve made such a big gain, which is why I question.” said Slater.
F1 benefitted greatly from Netflix’s Drive to Survive, which led to the annual revenue increasing a 100% within a year. As such, even the investors saw growth in their initial investments, leading to Slater talking about the possibility of Wolff selling his stake in the company and adding to his billion-dollar net worth.
Alongside Wolff, Slater also mentioned the situation around Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin, claiming Aramco might buy the team for “top dollar.” Should it be the case, Stroll stands to gain a fortune after spending hundreds of millions on the team. The situation, however, stands true for all investors of F1 as they will be tempted to sell off their shares and go out on a high.
Toto Wolff saw a meteoric rise while Mercedes suffered a downfall
Back in 2013, Wolff acquired a 30 percent stake in the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd and paid around €50 million ($54 million) for it, becoming the team’s Executive Director in the process.
Since then, the Silver Arrows won eight back-to-back constructors’ titles, starting in 2014. However, after the AD21 incident, the team fell way behind its competitors and has won only one race in the last two seasons.
With new regulations in play, the Brackley-based team struggled with getting their cars’ setup right. In 2022, George Russell handed the team its only win of the season by winning the Brazilian GP.
Throughout the season, the team battled with porpoising issues, massively affecting their performance. Facing similar issues in 2023, the team decided to bin their ‘zero sidepods’ concept and is now working on bringing an entirely new car for the 2024 season.
