Who is George Kurtz? All about the American billionaire who bought Toto Wolff's Mercedes stake

George Kurtz bought a 15 percent stake in Toto Wolff's shareholding in Mercedes F1. While it is known that he is the CEO and Founder of Crowdstrike, a sponsor of Mercedes, a lot is still not known about the 55-year-old billionaire. So, let's take a deeper look into who Kurtz actually is and what led to his purchase of equity in Mercedes F1.

Kurtz was born in New Jersey, United States, on October 14, 1970. He went to Seton Hall University for his bachelor's and earned a B.S., Accounting. During his graduation, he joined PwC and embarked on a successful professional journey.

The 55-year-old also founded Foundstone in 1999, before moving to McAfee and finally putting forward the CrowdStrike project. He founded the cybersecurity firm, utilizing his about two decades of experience in the security space.

CrowdStrike soon became one of the leading parties in the cybersecurity realm, simultaneously increasing its valuation. With the Austin-based venture blossoming, Kurtz also began exploring opportunities in the motorsport realm and started his professional racing career in 2016.

This seemingly motivated CrowdStrike to partner up with the Brackley-based squad in 2019, which it has been sponsoring since then. After that, his ties with the German giant grew stronger, as in any GT3 race he participated in, he could be seen in a Silver Arrow GT3 car.

Apart from this, he has also won the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 in the Pro-Am category, 2021 Twelve Hours of Sebring in LMP3, 2023 Petit Le Mans in LMP2, 2023 Six Hours of the Glen in LMP2, and he is also a two-time winner at both the Indianapolis 8 Hour and 24 Hours of Spa in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Knowing his passion for racing and being a long-time partner of Mercedes, Toto Wolff decided to sell 15 percent of his shareholding, equating to 5 percent of the team, for $300 million to Kurtz. Happy with his decision, the Austrian said in a press release:

"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. That combination brings specific insight that is increasingly relevant to the future of Formula One."

Meanwhile, George Kurtz's purchase of the stake in the team comes out of his own pocket instead of CrowdStrike's funds. This has also made him a Technology Advisor for the team, alongside three other stakeholders.

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How does George Kurtz's stake in Toto Wolff's shareholding affect Mercedes' equity distribution?

George Kurtz is the latest addition to the F1 team's equity holders since 2020. Before him, INEOS bought a one-third stake in the Brackley-based squad during the pandemic.

This had bumped up the number to three different stakeholders with equal powers in the team's F1 operation. However, Kurtz's addition means that now four parties will have a say in the team's direction.

Mercedes-Benz Group and INEOS now have two-thirds of the equity in the F1 team, while Toto Wolff will have a majority stake in the remaining one-third, with George Kurtz becoming a minority stakeholder.

Edited by Geetansh Pasricha