Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, billionaire Haslam family settle truck-stop bribery case

Attorneys told a Delaware judge last week that they were prepared for a two-day trial starting Monday in a high-stakes dispute over accounting practices at Pilot Travel Centers LLC. Late Saturday, however, the judge entered an order indicating that the trial had been canceled.

On Sunday, Haslam’s Pilot Corp. announced that the case, including Berkshire’s counterclaims against Pilot Corp., had been fully settled. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

With the dispute resolved, the Haslams must now decide whether to sell their remaining 20% stake in Pilot Travel Centers to Berkshire in line with a 2017 business deal. PTC, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, is a diversified fuel company that operates more than 650 travel centers, primarily under the names Pilot or Flying J, in 43 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces.

A spokeswoman for Pilot Corp. declined to comment Monday on whether the Haslam family, which includes former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, will sell its remaining stake in PTC to Berkshire. A spokeswoman for Berkshire did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Berkshire purchased an initial 38.6% stake in PTC in 2017 for $2.76 billion. The two sides agreed at that time that Berkshire would take control of PTC by acquiring an additional 41.4% interest in January 2023. The price tag for that control purchase was roughly $8.2 billion.

The 2017 agreements also gave Pilot Corp. an annual 60-day opportunity, beginning Jan. 1 this year, to sell its remaining 20% interest in PTC to Berkshire. The sale price would be calculated using PTC’s earnings in the prior year.

With the first sale deadline approaching, however, the two sides…