F1 team owner continues sell-off after record-breaking $12.5bn deal

Mark Walter waves to the crowd at an MLB game — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 team owner continues sell-off after record-breaking $12.5bn deal

What's going on here then?

Chris Deeley

Tuesday 18 August 2026 17:30

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F1 team owner Mark Walter appears to be continuing a stunning fire sale of his sports teams, after selling the Los Angeles Lakers last week.

The $12.5bn sale of one of basketball's signature franchises came completely out of the blue and raised a number of eyebrows in the sports business world, with Walter selling (for around a $2bn profit) barely a year after taking control of the team.

It has since emerged that Walter and Todd Boehly are also looking to sell their shares of Chelsea FC, which come to 12.8% of the London football team each – worth around £640m, at their £5bn valuation of the club as a whole.

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Walter's TWG Motorsports company owns and operates the brand new Cadillac F1 team, and the 66-year-old also owns the reigning World Series champion LA Dodgers baseball team.

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There are no current suggestions that TWG or Cadillac will be next on the sale block, but the rapidfire sale of the Lakers and attempted sale of his Chelsea share have a number of baseball insiders wondering about the Dodgers' future – and it would seem reasonable to extend that doubt to his motorsport teams.

The backdrop to the sales has further raised some eyebrows, with reports emerging last month that Walter's laptop and phone were seized by FBI agents who boarded his private plane just under a year ago.

It has also emerged that the billionaire is also under investigation for potential issues around 'improper' loans from insurance companies he controls.

Some pundits have linked the sudden and surprising sales – new co-owner Bob Iger said that the Lakers deal 'came together in three days' – to the ongoing investigations into Walter's companies, leaving many asking if the Lakers and Chelsea are just the first dominos in a chain.

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