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I am often fascinated with various people and find it interesting to look up where they came from and made it to where they are today. Toto Wolff has literally come from nowhere and I thought it would be fun to find out how and where he made his fortunes. He made his money by being aware like we are all trying to do today with crypto he did it with the help of the Dot.Com bubble and is a fascinating read.
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Toto Wolff is one of the top influencers in Formula One today owning stakes in Mercedes (33%), Williams (16%) and Aston Martin car company (5%). He never came from a rich family or was connected helping him on his way and is the true example of self made.
Toto has always been interested in racing cars and managed to scrape enough money together to buy a car to race with. He competed in the German and Austrian Formula Ford championships where he made a living by having sponsors. This was short lived however as he lost his sponsors after 4 years of racing he hung up his driving overalls for University in 1994.
He enrolled in the Vienna University of Economics as he firstly knew he wouldn't make it as a top driver being over 6 ft. Most drivers are like jockeys and is one sport where being 5 ft something helps.
Toto dropped out after 2 years realizing that you learn more in the real world than in some University. He joined Koloman Handler AG which is a steel company and within 2 years had pounced on an opportunity to become an agent for them in Poland working for himself. After much success he took a break travelling around the States and found himself in San Francisco when the Dot.Com bubble happened.
Toto could see what was happening and rushed back to Vienna to get involved with companies he selected who had early stage development with the internet and bought into them. Back then this was not expensive and set up a Venture Capital Investment Company called Marchfifteen with a chap called Rene Berger a lawyer he had got to know from Vienna University.
Timing was everything and they were one of the first companies to be involved with Dot.Com in Europe having offices in 5 different countries. One deal went on to make more than 275 million. They also got involved with Sysis which was a mobile start up and sold for more than $50 million being backed by T-Mobole.
In 2001 Toto started racing again as now he could afford to and even helped young drivers break into the sport helping them financially. He and Rene set up Marchsixteen which concentrated on technology companies that were established in Austria.
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In 2006 possibly his most important purchase was a 49% stake in HWA which was founded by the same guys who created AMG for Mercedes. HWA built cars for Mercedes for their touring car championship plus they built Formula 3 engines. He was now known in the Mercedes boardroom and was well connected which would bring him into their fold later down the line.
Toto wasn't a bad racing driver either as he still holds the record for the fastest lap at the Nürburgring or Green Hell which is the old course. He had just broken the record when he went again and was lucky to survive a high speed crash ending his racing days immediately. He lost all taste and smell from a bad concussion making him make up his mind to concentrate off the track.
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Nextmarch normally step in and help companies solve problems and sell their stake within 3-5 years. It is about quick problem solving with quick rewards.
In 2009 Nextmarch his latest company bought a 16 % share in Williams F1 where he became a director. Two years later he was called into Mercedes and they asked him what was wrong with their team. At that point they had only won one race in 2 seasons and trusting Toto having dealt with him before wanted him onboard. Like a businessman he agreed as long as he had shares and bought in 30 percent which was around $40 million back then. Latest valuation is those shares are now worth over $400 million which is a 10 x return plus a salary on top being the Team Principal of over $3.5 million per year.
What I find interesting more than anything here is his involvement with the tech companies. One of these went on to make the Witcher series of games. Formula One is all about the use of simulations and technology and Toto being involved from early on would have had a jump on all the other teams as he knows how it can be used. Not really surprising that Mercedes F1 have the best simulators and are ahead of the game with everything technology related. He has gaming companies in his pocket literally as he owns or has shares in them.
Another business he owns is a Sports Management business partnering with Mika Hakkinen being agents for other Formula One drivers notably Valterri Bottas who races for him at Mercedes and George Russell.