Toto Wolff has sold a portion of his Mercedes F1 stake to George Kurtz, the $90B CrowdStrike CEO, in a deal valuing the Brackley team at £4.6 billion. The transaction reshuffles ownership while keeping Wolff as team principal and maintaining Mercedes-Benz's majority position. Kurtz, worth roughly $8 billion, joins as a minority shareholder in the sport's second-most valuable franchise after Red Bull Racing.
Wolff acquired his original 33% stake in 2013 for an estimated £30 million. Mercedes-Benz holds the remaining 67%, unchanged by this week's move. The £4.6B valuation implies Wolff's reduced stake—reportedly now 28%—generated a partial exit north of £230 million, though neither party disclosed the exact percentage sold or cash transferred. Mercedes confirmed the restructuring Tuesday without offering figures. Kurtz's representative declined comment.
The number matters for three reasons. First, it anchors F1's escalating franchise values. Liberty Media paid $4.4 billion for the entire sport in 2017; a single team now commands parity. Andretti's failed $450 million entry offer last year looks quaint. Second, Kurtz's arrival signals software money replacing automotive money in the paddock power structure. Ford and Honda are engine partners; the checks come from cloud infrastructure. Third, the timing precedes the 2026 power unit regulations, when Mercedes will homologate a new hybrid system and likely seek additional capital for aerodynamic overhaul costs estimated near £200 million. Wolff taking liquidity now suggests either personal estate planning or a hedge against the regulatory gamble.
Kurtz is not a passive allocator. He sits on the board of Snowflake and has invested in professional golf's TGL, the simulator league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. CrowdStrike's $83 billion market cap weathered a July global IT outage that cost Fortune 500 customers an estimated $5.4 billion in downtime. Kurtz personally lost $300 million in stock value that week and spent Q3 earnings calls apologizing. His entry into F1 six months later suggests appetite for reputation arbitrage—motorsport carries less reputational fragility than endpoint detection software.
The deal also clarifies succession optionality. Wolff turns 53 this month and has run Mercedes F1 for 12 seasons, delivering eight constructors' titles. No team principal in the hybrid era has lasted longer. His contract runs through 2026, but Mike Elliott's promotion to technical director last year and the hire of performance chief James Allison position the technical office to operate without Wolff's daily presence. Kurtz's stake creates a natural advisory board structure if Wolff steps back post-2026, particularly if Mercedes underperforms in the new regulatory window.
Mercedes finished fourth in the 2024 constructors' championship with 468 points, their worst result since 2012. Lewis Hamilton departs for Ferrari in 2025, replaced by 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli. The team has not won a title since 2021. Sponsors renewed in 2023—Petronas through 2028, IWC through 2030—but activation budgets are indexed to performance. A second consecutive fourth-place finish would trigger mid-contract renegotiations. Kurtz's capital backstops that scenario.
Watch for coordinator announcements in the technical office by March, particularly in aerodynamics, where Mercedes trails Red Bull and McLaren in wind-tunnel efficiency. Kurtz's first paddock appearance will likely occur at the Bahrain season opener in late February, seated in the team principal's suite or the hospitality unit reserved for board-level guests. Mercedes-Benz's Q1 earnings call in April will offer the first public commentary from Stuttgart on the ownership structure. Wolff's next stake sale, if it occurs, would likely come after the 2026 regulations stabilize, giving Kurtz or a subsequent buyer visibility into the team's competitive trajectory under the new formula.
The £4.6B valuation is now the comp every Series A motorsport pitch deck will cite. Kurtz paid for exposure and optionality. Wolff paid himself for 12 years of work. Mercedes kept control. The only unpriced variable is whether the 2026 car is fast.
The takeaway
CrowdStrike's Kurtz enters F1 at **£4.6B** valuation, giving Wolff liquidity ahead of 2026 regulations while establishing new comp for franchise buyers.
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