Zak Brown Once Sold McLaren’s State of the Art HQ for $237 Million to Pay Salaries

McLaren’s turnaround in fortunes has been nothing short of remarkable. Back in 2015, they were not just languishing at the back of the grid, but were struggling with massive financial issues as well. Almost a decade later, they are the F1 Constructors’ Champions, and their books are pretty much in the green. Most of the credit for this sensational turnaround goes to McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

Things were so bad at one point that Brown had to sell the team’s state-of-the-art headquarters for $237 million to pay the salaries of the employees. This was in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging.

F1 journalist Joe Pompliano revealed on his YouTube channel that McLaren had signed a sale deed and a 20-year leaseback agreement for their Woking headquarters to keep things afloat. They continue to work out of Woking but no longer own the HQ.

McLaren has completed a historic comeback.

Only a month or two away from bankruptcy, McLaren sold its UK headquarters, signing a 20-year leaseback agreement in order to pay its employees.

Now, they are world champions, profitable, and valued at $2.65 billion.

Crazy story! pic.twitter.com/jbsl3nFSFS

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) December 17, 2024

The headquarters was not the only thing Brown had to part ways with. The CEO sold 15% stake of McLaren’s F1 team to MSP Sports Capital. Some of the company’s historic cars were also put to sale to raise money.

The struggles were real indeed. But just four years on, McLaren hold the most number of sponsors among the teams on the grid. Their valuation has also increased to a staggering $2.65 billion.

McLaren has no space on their cars to add sponsors

Pompliano added in his video that McLaren today have over 50 sponsors. So much so that they “literally ran out of space for sponsors on the car”.

McLaren have found a workaround though — innovative digital advertising panels across the cockpits of their cars.

While Brown is, undoubtedly, proud of his success, he has not forgotten how difficult McLaren’s situation was just a few years ago.

“Things were brutal,” he said in the clip of an interview Pompliano added to his video. “Zero points at the start of the 2023 season, financial issues four or five years ago and to turn that around and be Constructors’ Champions is amazing.”

McLaren also posted a $38 million profit in 2023, having reported a $11 million loss the year before. In 2024, the championship-winning year, that would have increased by a substantial margin too.