Toto Wolff has said he has no intention of selling the majority of his Mercedes stake or changing his role within the team, despite transferring his 15% stake to CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz last week.
Kurz received 15% of Wolff’s ownership as an equal share of one-third of the Mercedes team alongside Mercedes-Benz and INEOS, giving him 5% of the ownership. The deal values the F1 team at around $6 billion, and Wolff said it does not signal he will step down as team principal and CEO.
“I have no plans to sell the team or step away from my role,” Wolff said. “I’m actually in a good space and I’m enjoying it, and as long as I feel like I’m contributing and other people feel like I’m contributing, there’s no reason to think in that direction.
“What I did was sell my investment holdings to George. He’s a racer, he’s a high-tech entrepreneur, he’s someone who can help us take advantage of the U.S. market. That was the reason behind it, and nothing else.”
Mercedes’ valuation has come under the spotlight as it continues to grow from a commercial standpoint, with the entire team currently estimated to be worth at least $1.5 billion according to Forbes, a change Wolff says is largely due to the introduction of cost caps.
“If someone had told us the valuation five years ago, we never would have believed it,” he said. “But this is simply an estimate of each team’s profitability. The cost cap fundamentally changed our business case, rather than just outspending each other at all costs.”
“As Greg (Maffei) said, he protected us from ourselves. We were able to grow our revenue, grow our free cash flow, and that’s what led us to multiple industry valuations and led us to this kind of valuation.”
“Now, if you look at American teams, five years ago the Dallas Cowboys were worth $3 billion, and now they’re worth $12 billion because the fundamental numbers have changed. That’s why we don’t know where the future is going to take us.
“If we continue to strive to understand what makes sports fun and interesting and puts on a great show, there’s no reason why sports can’t continue to grow like this… Most importantly, we need to take care of our sports the right way.”
