Toto Wolff has sold a portion of his 33% personal stake in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team to George Kurtz, the billionaire founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The transaction, confirmed this week, marks the first time Wolff has diluted his equity position since acquiring his share in 2013 when he joined as team principal and co-owner alongside Mercedes-Benz AG and INEOS chairman Jim Ratcliffe.
The exact percentage sold and the transaction price remain undisclosed, but the move arrives as F1 team valuations have climbed sharply in the post-Liberty Media era. McLaren Racing recently closed a $300 million minority investment round at a reported $1 billion valuation, and Alpine's parent company Renault is actively seeking buyers for a 20% stake at similar multiples. Mercedes won eight consecutive constructors' titles between 2014 and 2021, a run that positioned the team as the sport's most valuable franchise before Red Bull's resurgence. Kurtz, whose net worth exceeds $7 billion following CrowdStrike's post-IPO trajectory, has no prior public involvement in motorsport but holds relationships across Silicon Valley and institutional allocators increasingly interested in live sports assets.
The timing is deliberate. Formula One enters its final season under the current technical regulations before a cost cap reduction and a new commercial distribution model take effect in 2026. Teams are recapitalizing ahead of that reset, and Wolff's partial exit provides liquidity without surrendering operational control—he remains team principal and retains a board seat alongside Mercedes-Benz and INEOS representatives. The structure mirrors Jim Ratcliffe's £1.3 billion Manchester United minority stake, where capital inflow funds infrastructure upgrades while legacy leadership retains veto rights. Mercedes is midway through a £200 million expansion of its Brackley technical center, and Kurtz's entry accelerates that timeline without requiring parent company Mercedes-Benz to deploy additional capital during its broader EV manufacturing cycle.
The deal also signals a broader shift in F1's investor base. Traditional automotive and petrochemical backers are being joined by technology executives seeking exposure to the sport's 75 million U.S. viewership growth since 2018 and its expanding calendar footprint in high-GDP markets. Kurtz's CrowdStrike already spends heavily on sports marketing—naming rights at the Austin FC stadium, NBA team partnerships—and his equity position in Mercedes provides direct access to F1's sponsor ecosystem, including title partner Petronas, chassis sponsor Epson, and apparel partner Tommy Hilfiger. The team's commercial revenue topped €450 million in 2022, and new sponsor categories around AI, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity remain undermonetized relative to McLaren and Red Bull.
Wolff's decision to take chips off the table follows Lewis Hamilton's forthcoming departure to Ferrari, a loss that removes the sport's highest-paid driver and most marketable asset from the team's roster. George Russell remains under contract through 2025, but Mercedes faces its first full season without a reigning world champion since 2013. The ownership recalibration positions the team to navigate that talent reset with fresh capital and a board aligned around a post-Hamilton commercial strategy. Kurtz's network includes venture investors who have backed F1-adjacent startups like Stroll Technologies and the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix infrastructure buildout, suggesting Mercedes may pursue technology partnerships beyond traditional automotive suppliers.
Wolff previously sold a small portion of his stake to Ratcliffe in 2020 when INEOS acquired 33% of the team, but that transaction was structured as a co-owner entry rather than a pure liquidity event. The Kurtz sale is different: it's a partial exit at a valuation inflection point, executed by a team principal who has been public about succession planning. Wolff turns 53 in January, and while he has repeatedly stated his intent to remain in the role through the end of the decade, the move allows him to derisk his net worth concentration in a single asset while maintaining operational authority. The structure is common in private equity-backed sports properties—Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert sold minority stakes to Dyal Capital while retaining control—but rare in Formula One, where team principals typically hold equity until full exit or death.
The transaction does not require FIA approval under current ownership rules, which mandate only that changes affecting more than 50% of voting control be disclosed. Mercedes-Benz AG remains the majority shareholder and retains final authority over technical budgets and driver contracts. The German automaker has not commented on whether it will participate in future capital raises, but its board has consistently framed the F1 program as a marketing expense rather than a profit center, suggesting it views outside investor capital as a subsidy rather than a dilution threat.
Immediate follow-on effects include likely sponsor renegotiations ahead of the 2026 regulation change, where teams with diversified ownership bases are better positioned to secure multi-year deals. Mercedes' title sponsorship with Petronas expires at the end of 2025, and the Kurtz entry provides leverage in those renewal talks by signaling institutional confidence in the team's post-Hamilton commercial model. Separately, watch for Kurtz's first paddock appearance—likely at the Miami Grand Prix in May—and whether CrowdStrike announces any activation tied to his equity position.
The Wolff family still owns a material stake in the team. The amount he sold to Kurtz was a slice, not a surrender.
The takeaway
Wolff's partial sale to Kurtz brings tech capital into Mercedes ahead of 2026 reset, derisks founder equity, and accelerates sponsor strategy post-Hamilton.
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