George Kurtz, the founder and chief executive officer of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, has taken a 15% ownership interest in Toto Wolff’s controlling entity, which translates to a 5% stake in the Mercedes‑AMG Petronas Formula One team. The transaction values the team at roughly $6 billion, a figure that reflects the dramatic rise in Formula One’s commercial worth over the past five years.
The deal builds on a partnership that began in 2019, when CrowdStrike first supplied the team with AI‑powered cybersecurity solutions for its race‑day infrastructure. By acquiring a minority share, Kurtz will now serve as a technology advisor and sit on the team’s strategic steering committee, working alongside Mercedes‑Benz CEO Ola Källenius, INEOS founder Jim Ratcliffe, and Toto Wolff. The governance structure of the team remains unchanged, with Wolff continuing as Team Principal and CEO.
Kurtz’s dual identity as a seasoned tech entrepreneur and accomplished endurance racer gives him a unique perspective on the intersection of data, security, and high‑performance engineering. He explained that “winning in racing and cybersecurity requires speed, precision, and innovation. Milliseconds matter. Execution counts. Data wins.” The investment signals CrowdStrike’s intent to deepen its presence in high‑tech, high‑visibility arenas while leveraging its expertise to enhance the team’s data analytics and AI capabilities.
The $6 billion valuation of the Mercedes‑AMG Petronas team represents a more than sevenfold increase from the $624 million valuation that accompanied INEOS’s 2020 stake purchase. Drivers of this surge include the sport’s expanding global fan base, especially in the United States, the success of the Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” and the growing appeal of Formula One to younger, tech‑savvy audiences. Kurtz’s investment positions CrowdStrike at the forefront of this growth, aligning the company’s brand with a sport that increasingly relies on advanced data analytics, real‑time decision making, and robust cybersecurity.
Toto Wolff praised Kurtz’s background, noting that “George’s background is unusual in its breadth: he’s a racer, a loyal sporting ambassador for Mercedes‑AMG, and an exceptional entrepreneur. He understands both the demands of racing and the realities of building and scaling technology businesses.” The partnership is expected to accelerate the team’s adoption of AI‑driven performance optimization while ensuring that the vast amounts of telemetry data remain secure against cyber threats.
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