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.
