Toto Wolff has sold a portion of his equity stake in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team to George Kurtz, the $90B market-cap CEO of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, in a transaction that values the team north of $1.3 billion. The deal marks one of the largest known ownership transfers in modern F1 outside the $725M Aston Martin recapitalization and McLaren's $560M MSP Sports Capital entry in 2020-2021.
Wolff retains his role as team principal and CEO. The stake sale—percentage undisclosed but believed to be in the mid-single digits based on comparable team valuations—restructures the ownership triangle between Mercedes-Benz AG (holding the majority), INEOS (Sir Jim Ratcliffe's 33% tranche acquired in 2020 for roughly $780M), and Wolff's personal position. Kurtz, who took CrowdStrike public in 2019 and watched it become the $90B enterprise it is today, joins a narrow club of tech billionaires with direct F1 ownership: Larry Ellison (close adviser to Red Bull), Zak Brown's McLaren backers, and the Andretti family's stalled bid.
The timing matters. Mercedes is 18 months into a technical reset after losing the 2021 title and spending 2022-2023 mid-pack. The 2024 regulations delivered three wins but no championship fight. Sponsorship revenue has remained flat at approximately $450M annually since 2022, per Sponsor United estimates, while Red Bull's title run lifted its intake past $500M. Wolff's partial exit allows him to derisk a 12-year equity position while Mercedes and INEOS keep operational control. Kurtz's entry brings a different Rolodex: CrowdStrike's enterprise client base includes 298 of the Fortune 500, and the company spent $387M on sales and marketing in fiscal 2024. Whether that translates to paddock-side sponsor intros or remains passive capital is the operational question.
Kurtz's interest follows a pattern. He bought into the Las Vegas Grand Prix as a founding partner in 2023, seated trackside for the inaugural race, and CrowdStrike ran targeted campaigns during the event weekend. His move into team ownership suggests conviction that F1's U.S. growth—three races, 1.5M+ live attendees, Liberty Media's $600M+ annual North American broadcast deal—justifies direct equity exposure. The $1.3B+ valuation benchmark is consistent with recent private-market chatter: Aston Martin is whispered at $1.8B post-Aramco, McLaren near $1.5B, and Ferrari's racing division carries an imputed $2.2B within the parent's $78B market cap.
Wolff's rebalancing also comes as Mercedes prepares for the 2026 power unit regulations, a $300M+ engineering program that will determine competitiveness through 2030. INEOS and Mercedes-Benz have already committed capital; Kurtz's entry may smooth future funding rounds if cost-cap exemptions around engine R&D create cash-flow pressure. Meanwhile, Wolff's media profile remains untouched—he appeared on the High Performance podcast three weeks ago and continues to drive Netflix's Drive to Survive narrative arc. His stake sale doesn't reduce his operational mandate; it finances whatever comes next in his portfolio, likely including increased exposure to his Williams advisory role or ancillary motorsport ventures.
Watch for CrowdStrike branding integration during the 2025 season, likely starting at the Bahrain opener in March. Paddock observers will track whether Kurtz attends races beyond Las Vegas and Miami, and whether his enterprise relationships seed new B2B partnerships for Mercedes. INEOS's Ratcliffe is expected to remain the most visible non-executive owner, but Kurtz's arrival shifts the stakeholder center of gravity toward North American capital and technology-sector networking.
The deal closes as F1 team valuations have tripled since Liberty Media's 2017 takeover, driven by cost-cap stability, expanding revenue distribution, and U.S. market penetration. Wolff exits a slice at the top of the cycle; Kurtz buys into a franchise with eight consecutive constructors' titles and a technical reboot in progress. The restructure confirms what the paddock already knew: F1 equity is now institutional-grade, and the teams are no longer racing shops—they're $1B+ intellectual property platforms with wheels attached.
The takeaway
Wolff's partial exit at a **$1.3B+** valuation derisks a decade-long hold; Kurtz's entry tests whether tech-sector capital translates to sponsor flow or remains passive.
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