pilot travel centers ticker

Warren Buffett's company now fully owns a truck-stop chain that was the 5th-largest private company in America

• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired the final 20% of Pilot Travel Centers on Tuesday.
• Buffett's company didn't say how much it paid, but it shelled out $11 billion for the other 80%.
• The truck-stop giant was the fifth-largest private company in America before Berkshire's buyout.

Warren Buffett's elephant hunt shows no sign of ending, but at least he took down a gazelle this week.

The famed investor's Berkshire Hathaway acquire d the remaining 20% of Pilot Travel Centers from Cleveland Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam's family on Tuesday. It originally paid $2.8 billion for 38.6% of the truck-stop operator in 2017, then shelled out another $8.2 billion to boost its stake to 80% last January.

Berkshire and Pilot haven't revealed the price paid for the final 20% stake, which Buffett's company valued at north of $3 billion last year. The two sides accused each other of manipulating Pilot's financials to alter the valuation before reaching an undisclosed settlement earlier this month.

The Haslam family grew Pilot from a single gas station in 1958 into the fifth-largest private company in America with more than 750 locations across the US and Canada. Under the Pilot Flying J, Pilot Travel Centers, and Mr. Fuel brands, it provides services like gas pumps, fast-food restaurants, parking, laundry, and showers to truck drivers and other motorists . It sells about 14 billion gallons of fuel and $3 billion worth of food and merchandise a year.

Pilot's revenues jumped from about $20 billion in 2017 to $42 billion in the first nine months of last year, and the company now generates over $1 billion in annual pre-tax earnings. That's not insignificant for Berkshire, which raked in $302 billion of total revenues and earned $31 billion in operating income in 2022, per its latest annual report.

It took Buffett more than six years and probably over $13 billion to take full ownership of Pilot. The business isn't the behemoth he's been looking to bring down with his " elephant gun " or cash pile, which stood at a record $157 billion in September. But it ranks among Berkshire's biggest deals in recent years and is certainly a step in the right direction.

"As a family business, it is humbling to think of all of the team members who have been a part of Pilot Flying J and we are beyond grateful for their commitment and contributions over the years," Haslam said in a statement. "We will always consider the Pilot Flying J team as family, and we wish them success as they continue to develop the best travel center network in North America and keep America moving."

"Pilot started with one gas station 65 years ago, and because of the dedicated and exceptional team members we have had throughout our history, it is now an industry leader," Pilot founder Jim Haslam II said in a statement. "While this has certainly been an emotional decision for us, it is one we felt was right for our family at this time."

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Berkshire Hathaway Completes Acquisition of Remaining Interest in Pilot Travel Centers LLC

OMAHA, Neb. --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (BRK.A; BRK.B) – Pursuant to the terms of a settlement agreement reached with Pilot Corporation, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has acquired Pilot Corporation’s remaining 20% interest in Pilot Travel Centers LLC effective today. Berkshire Hathaway now owns 100% of Pilot Travel Centers.

About Berkshire

Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries engage in diverse business activities including insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, manufacturing, retailing and services. Common stock of the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange , trading symbols BRK.A and BRK.B.

Cautionary Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release are “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Berkshire assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240116124868/en/

Marc D. Hamburg 402-346-1400

Source: Berkshire Hathaway

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The acquisition of a majority stake in Pilot Travel Centers by Berkshire Hathaway has led to a significant increase in the company’s debt rating by S&P Global Ratings.

Pilot’s BB+ corporate rating was affirmed in mid-2021 , though one debt issue was reduced at that time to a BB+ level. BB+ is not considered investment-grade debt.

But with Berkshire Hathaway now owning 80% of the company, and the Haslam family owning the rest, S&P Ratings (NYSE: SPGI) took Pilot’s rating up three notches to BBB+ in one shot, taking it back into the investment-grade category. That three-step move takes the Pilot debt rating past BBB- and BBB up to the BBB+ grade, an unusually strong move. Most ratings changes tend to be one grade, though a company in sudden crisis might find its debt ratings see a plunge of several steps in one shot.

S&P also has what it calls a stand-alone credit profile (SACP) for Pilot. That remains at BB+.

But it is the rating on the debt that is most important for investors. And S&P, in announcing the change last week, made clear that it is the expected backing of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) that led to the upgrade.

“We now incorporate three notches of ratings uplift due to our view that the company would likely receive support from the rest of Berkshire’s group under most foreseeable circumstances,” S&P wrote. “While some factors raise doubts about the extent of such group support, Berkshire’s track record as a long-term investor supports our view.”

Ratings of agencies such as S&P and Moody’s are predicated on whether a company is going to be able to service its debt load. It is not an opinion on the attractiveness of the stock price — if there is one — and is indirectly a verdict on the performance of company management.

While revenue and net income figures were not disclosed in the S&P report, which is standard practice, the report did say it expects Pilot to generate more than $1 billion in free cash flow in 2024. S&P said it expects Pilot’s cash flows will be used for “acquisitions and other investments.”

S&P said it expects Pilot to hold a ratio of debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of less than 4X. “We expect the company’s debt levels will remain stable, though there is potential for some downside risk to our forecast if its draws on its revolving credit lines are larger than we expect due to working capital outflows,” the report said.

The S&P report did say Pilot is experiencing pressure on “inside sales,” which would be food and other services inside the truck stop, but that it will have stable earnings this year “because of its consistent fuel margins.”

Based on recent data from Travel Centers of America (NASDAQ: TA) , fuel margins at that Pilot competitor are signaling a significant amount of strength.

I'm going to miss the quarterly earnings of $TA when $BP acquires them, because of the data on fuel margins. And what this most recent report showed is that TA had big earnings on fuel margins in 4Q. 88% of its sales are #diesel but margins are not broken out diesel vs. gasoline. pic.twitter.com/8k74M2iqQQ — John Kingston (@JohnHKingston) March 2, 2023

For that SACP to increase, Pilot would need to take a combination of several steps, including diversification “to offset the volatility in its core fuel business,” S&P said. Reduction of its leverage to less than 2X could also result in an SACP increase.

More articles by John Kingston

Odyssey Logistics’ publicly traded debt upgraded by key ratings agency

S&P auto hauler United Road faces challenges dealing with its debt

XPO brokerage spinoff RXO gets near investment-grade debt rating from S&P

Anthony Paul

Pilot inside sales would improve if they were to improve the meal options for truckers. Get some diversity! Try replacing McDs, Arby’s, and Taco Bell with FAZOLI’S or BOSTON MARKET! Truckers are TIRED of eating the stock, overpriced fast foods; truckers have been gouged with high prices long enough!

J.P. Michaels

That doesn’t mean much to the Truckers who spend fuel money etc. there. More important is they get and keep their facilities clean and spotless

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John Kingston

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The trains and stations of the Moscow Metro

2 Comments · Posted by Alex Smirnov in Cities , Travel , Video

The Moscow Metro is the third most intensive subway system in the world after Tokyo and Seoul subways. The first line was opened on May 15, 1935. Since 1955, the metro has the name of V.I. Lenin.

The system consists of 12 lines with a total length of 305.7 km. Forty four stations are recognized cultural heritage. The largest passenger traffic is in rush hours from 8:00 to 9:00 and from 18:00 to 19:00.

Cellular communication is available on most of the stations of the Moscow Metro. In March 2012, a free Wi-Fi appeared in the Circle Line train. The Moscow Metro is open to passengers from 5:20 to 01:00. The average interval between trains is 2.5 minutes.

The fare is paid by using contactless tickets and contactless smart cards, the passes to the stations are controlled by automatic turnstiles. Ticket offices and ticket vending machines can be found in station vestibules.

Tags:  Moscow city

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Tomás · August 27, 2012 at 11:34 pm

The Moscow metro stations are the best That I know, cars do not.

Alberto Calvo · September 25, 2016 at 8:57 pm

Great videos! Moscow Metro is just spectacular. I actually visited Moscow myself quite recently and wrote a post about my top 7 stations, please check it out and let me know what you think! :)

http://www.arwtravels.com/blog/moscow-metro-top-7-stations-you-cant-miss

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Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

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The Moscow Metro Museum of Art: 10 Must-See Stations

There are few times one can claim having been on the subway all afternoon and loving it, but the Moscow Metro provides just that opportunity.  While many cities boast famous public transport systems—New York’s subway, London’s underground, San Salvador’s chicken buses—few warrant hours of exploration.  Moscow is different: Take one ride on the Metro, and you’ll find out that this network of railways can be so much more than point A to B drudgery.

The Metro began operating in 1935 with just thirteen stations, covering less than seven miles, but it has since grown into the world’s third busiest transit system ( Tokyo is first ), spanning about 200 miles and offering over 180 stops along the way.  The construction of the Metro began under Joseph Stalin’s command, and being one of the USSR’s most ambitious building projects, the iron-fisted leader instructed designers to create a place full of svet (radiance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future), a palace for the people and a tribute to the Mother nation.

Consequently, the Metro is among the most memorable attractions in Moscow.  The stations provide a unique collection of public art, comparable to anything the city’s galleries have to offer and providing a sense of the Soviet era, which is absent from the State National History Museum.  Even better, touring the Metro delivers palpable, experiential moments, which many of us don’t get standing in front of painting or a case of coins.

Though tours are available , discovering the Moscow Metro on your own provides a much more comprehensive, truer experience, something much less sterile than following a guide.  What better place is there to see the “real” Moscow than on mass transit: A few hours will expose you to characters and caricatures you’ll be hard-pressed to find dining near the Bolshoi Theater.  You become part of the attraction, hear it in the screech of the train, feel it as hurried commuters brush by: The Metro sucks you beneath the city and churns you into the mix.

With the recommendations of our born-and-bred Muscovite students, my wife Emma and I have just taken a self-guided tour of what some locals consider the top ten stations of the Moscow Metro. What most satisfied me about our Metro tour was the sense of adventure .  I loved following our route on the maps of the wagon walls as we circled the city, plotting out the course to the subsequent stops; having the weird sensation of being underground for nearly four hours; and discovering the next cavern of treasures, playing Indiana Jones for the afternoon, piecing together fragments of Russia’s mysterious history.  It’s the ultimate interactive museum.

Top Ten Stations (In order of appearance)

Kievskaya station.

Kievskaya Station went public in March of 1937, the rails between it and Park Kultury Station being the first to cross the Moscow River.  Kievskaya is full of mosaics depicting aristocratic scenes of Russian life, with great cameo appearances by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin.  Each work has a Cyrillic title/explanation etched in the marble beneath it; however, if your Russian is rusty, you can just appreciate seeing familiar revolutionary dates like 1905 ( the Russian Revolution ) and 1917 ( the October Revolution ).

Mayakovskaya Station

Mayakovskaya Station ranks in my top three most notable Metro stations. Mayakovskaya just feels right, done Art Deco but no sense of gaudiness or pretention.  The arches are adorned with rounded chrome piping and create feeling of being in a jukebox, but the roof’s expansive mosaics of the sky are the real showstopper.  Subjects cleverly range from looking up at a high jumper, workers atop a building, spires of Orthodox cathedrals, to nimble aircraft humming by, a fleet of prop planes spelling out CCCP in the bluest of skies.

Novoslobodskaya Station

Novoslobodskaya is the Metro’s unique stained glass station.  Each column has its own distinctive panels of colorful glass, most of them with a floral theme, some of them capturing the odd sailor, musician, artist, gardener, or stenographer in action.  The glass is framed in Art Deco metalwork, and there is the lovely aspect of discovering panels in the less frequented haunches of the hall (on the trackside, between the incoming staircases).  Novosblod is, I’ve been told, the favorite amongst out-of-town visitors.

Komsomolskaya Station

Komsomolskaya Station is one of palatial grandeur.  It seems both magnificent and obligatory, like the presidential palace of a colonial city.  The yellow ceiling has leafy, white concrete garland and a series of golden military mosaics accenting the tile mosaics of glorified Russian life.  Switching lines here, the hallway has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel, impossibly long with decorative tile walls, culminating in a very old station left in a remarkable state of disrepair, offering a really tangible glimpse behind the palace walls.

Dostoevskaya Station

Dostoevskaya is a tribute to the late, great hero of Russian literature .  The station at first glance seems bare and unimpressive, a stark marble platform without a whiff of reassembled chips of tile.  However, two columns have eerie stone inlay collages of scenes from Dostoevsky’s work, including The Idiot , The Brothers Karamazov , and Crime and Punishment.   Then, standing at the center of the platform, the marble creates a kaleidoscope of reflections.  At the entrance, there is a large, inlay portrait of the author.

Chkalovskaya Station

Chkalovskaya does space Art Deco style (yet again).  Chrome borders all.  Passageways with curvy overhangs create the illusion of walking through the belly of a chic, new-age spacecraft.  There are two (kos)mosaics, one at each end, with planetary subjects.  Transferring here brings you above ground, where some rather elaborate metalwork is on display.  By name similarity only, I’d expected Komsolskaya Station to deliver some kosmonaut décor; instead, it was Chkalovskaya that took us up to the space station.

Elektrozavodskaya Station

Elektrozavodskaya is full of marble reliefs of workers, men and women, laboring through the different stages of industry.  The superhuman figures are round with muscles, Hollywood fit, and seemingly undeterred by each Herculean task they respectively perform.  The station is chocked with brass, from hammer and sickle light fixtures to beautiful, angular framework up the innards of the columns.  The station’s art pieces are less clever or extravagant than others, but identifying the different stages of industry is entertaining.

Baumanskaya Statio

Baumanskaya Station is the only stop that wasn’t suggested by the students.  Pulling in, the network of statues was just too enticing: Out of half-circle depressions in the platform’s columns, the USSR’s proud and powerful labor force again flaunts its success.  Pilots, blacksmiths, politicians, and artists have all congregated, posing amongst more Art Deco framing.  At the far end, a massive Soviet flag dons the face of Lenin and banners for ’05, ’17, and ‘45.  Standing in front of the flag, you can play with the echoing roof.

Ploshchad Revolutsii Station

Novokuznetskaya Station

Novokuznetskaya Station finishes off this tour, more or less, where it started: beautiful mosaics.  This station recalls the skyward-facing pieces from Mayakovskaya (Station #2), only with a little larger pictures in a more cramped, very trafficked area.  Due to a line of street lamps in the center of the platform, it has the atmosphere of a bustling market.  The more inventive sky scenes include a man on a ladder, women picking fruit, and a tank-dozer being craned in.  The station’s also has a handsome black-and-white stone mural.

Here is a map and a brief description of our route:

Start at (1)Kievskaya on the “ring line” (look for the squares at the bottom of the platform signs to help you navigate—the ring line is #5, brown line) and go north to Belorusskaya, make a quick switch to the Dark Green/#2 line, and go south one stop to (2)Mayakovskaya.  Backtrack to the ring line—Brown/#5—and continue north, getting off at (3)Novosblodskaya and (4)Komsolskaya.  At Komsolskaya Station, transfer to the Red/#1 line, go south for two stops to Chistye Prudy, and get on the Light Green/#10 line going north.  Take a look at (5)Dostoevskaya Station on the northern segment of Light Green/#10 line then change directions and head south to (6)Chkalovskaya, which offers a transfer to the Dark Blue/#3 line, going west, away from the city center.  Have a look (7)Elektroskaya Station before backtracking into the center of Moscow, stopping off at (8)Baumskaya, getting off the Dark Blue/#3 line at (9)Ploschad Revolyutsii.  Change to the Dark Green/#2 line and go south one stop to see (10)Novokuznetskaya Station.

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Jonathon Engels, formerly a patron saint of misadventure, has been stumbling his way across cultural borders since 2005 and is currently volunteering in the mountains outside of Antigua, Guatemala.  For more of his work, visit his website and blog .

Photo credits:   SergeyRod , all others courtesy of the author and may not be used without permission