Toto Wolff Mercedes slice sold as team confirms ownership shake-up
George Kurtz has acquired a small stake of Mercedes through an acquisition of a slice of Toto's Wolff's holding company.
Mercedes has announced a change to its ownership structure, as CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz has acquired a share.
Mercedes Grand Prix, the company that operates the Formula 1 team, has announced a change to its ownership structure as CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz has invested into Toto Wolff’s holding company.
CrowdStrike CEO becomes co-owner of the Mercedes F1 team
The Mercedes F1 team has a new name on the ownership roster, and it’s one familiar to anyone who follows technology or endurance racing.
CrowdStrike founder and CEO George Kurtz has officially become a co-owner of the team, taking a 15 percent stake in the portion controlled by Toto Wolff, the Brackley-based squad announced on Thursday ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Last week, Sportico first reported Wolff had sold a share of his slice of the pie of the F1 team, with PlanetF1.com reporting that Kurtz had been linked with the investment.
Mercedes has confirmed that Kurtz has personally bought into Wolff’s holding company, Motorsport Investment Limited, based in Guernsey, taking a 15 percent share of Wolff’s company.
This means that the long-standing trio of equal ownership between Wolff, Mercedes, and INEOS’ Sir Jim Ratcliffe has changed, with Wolff’s overall share reduced.
However, with the investment being a minority acquisition of Wolff’s holding company, the Austrian’s voting power at board level at Mercedes will remain unchanged, and he will remain in his roles as CEO and team principal; effectively, for the team, nothing will change at all in terms of governance.
What will change is that Kurtz will have an official role with Mercedes, as he’s become the team’s new Technology Advisor, and also joins the team’s strategic steering committee alongside Ola Kallenius as the Chairman of Mercedes, Ratcliffe, and Wolff.
While the purchase price has not been divulged, it’s believed that Kurtz’s investment of 15 percent of Wolff’s holding company, which corresponds to five percent of Mercedes F1, would value the team at around $6 billion, eclipsing the latest record price established in a McLaren stake sale just two months ago.
As PlanetF1.com reported at the time, MSP Capital Partners divested its 33 percent holding in the Woking-based squad to Mumtalakat and CYVN Holdings, with the team valued at circa $5 billion through the sale; a near-tenfold return on MSP’s initial investment, as its initial purchase was when the team was valued at £560 million in 2020.
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While Kurtz is well-known for being a technology heavyweight through CrowdStrike, he’s also a racing driver, having commenced a professional career in 2016.
Kurtz has class wins at Le Mans, Sebring, Petit Le Mans, and Spa behind him, and multiple championship titles to go with them.
Given this unique blend of skillsets, Wolff welcomed Kurtz to the team and ownership structure.
“George’s background is unusual in its breadth: he’s a racer, a loyal sporting ambassador for Mercedes-AMG, and an exceptional entrepreneur,” he said.
“He understands both the demands of racing and the realities of building and scaling technology businesses. That combination brings specific insight that is increasingly relevant to the future of Formula 1.”
Kurtz’s arrival expands upon the existing relationship between CrowdStrike and Mercedes, with the cybersecurity giant becoming a partner of the squad in 2019.
In his Advisor role, Kurtz will work to expand the team’s involvement in the US and global technology sectors.
“Winning in racing and cybersecurity requires speed, precision, and innovation. Milliseconds matter. Execution counts. Data wins,” he said.
“Technology is reshaping competitive advantage and human capability everywhere, including motorsport. I’m excited to help the team securely accelerate forward.”
With Wolff’s initial investment being 30 percent into a team valued at $165 million in 2013, this would suggest the Austrian businessman’s ownership stake has risen in value by around $1.7 billion over the last 13 years.
While no reason for why Wolff has divested a slice of his company to Kurtz, it could be seen as the Austrian realising some of the massive gains of his investment in the team.
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