Judge offers Berkshire a speedy trial in pilot dispute.
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett walks through the exhibit hall as shareholders gather to hear from the billionaire investor during Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., May 4, 2019. REUTERS/Scott
Tom Hals
WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) – A Delaware judge has ruled that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: He announced that he would approve the January trial requested. Truck stop chain.
Morgan Zurn, vice chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, said in a ruling Friday that it would be efficient to hear Berkshire’s arguments next month, along with a Jan. 8-9 trial on the Haslam family’s claim that Berkshire is devaluing Pilot Travel Center.
The dispute is about how much Berkshire will owe if the Haslam family, which includes Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, exercises its option to sell a 20% stake in America’s largest truck stop chain to Berkshire in the first two months of 2024. It’s about doing it.
Zurn gave Berkshire until 9 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) Monday to decide whether the company will accept a trial in January, provided the investigation is limited to only what is necessary to defend the lawsuit filed by the Haslam family.
Berkshire’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An attorney for the Haslam family declined to comment.
Berkshire said the Haslams would suffer irreparable harm if the case was not resolved before they exercised their option to sell their stake.
Berkshire owns 80% of Pilot and paid Haslam $2.76 billion for a 38.6% stake in 2017 and $8.2 billion for a 41.4% stake in January.
Both sides accuse the other of trying to manipulate Pilot’s earnings, which are the basis for valuing those shares.
The Haslams sued the Omaha, Nebraska-based company last October, accusing it of seeking a “windfall” by adopting “pushdown” accounting for the pilot.
Berkshire countered on Nov. 28 that Jimmy Haslam tried to bribe Pilot executives with millions of dollars to inflate 2023 profits at the expense of future years.
Court documents show the Haslams believe their 20% Pilot stake was worth $3.2 billion before Berkshire’s accounting changes, an amount Berkshire disputes.
Pilot is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee and has approximately 800 locations.
Berkshire also owns dozens of other businesses, including BNSF railroad and Geico auto insurance company.
