An unusual, billion-dollar trial between Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and the billionaire Haslam family was canceled by the court on Saturday, two days before it was scheduled to begin.
“This confirms that the trial scheduled in this matter for January 8 and 9, 2024 is hereby canceled and has been faraway from the Court’s calendar,” said a Saturday docket entry for the case. The entry said it was authorized by Vice Chancellor Morgan Zurn, the judge.
The Haslam family, Berkshire Hathaway and the chambers for Zurn couldn’t be reached for comment.
The 2-day non-jury trial in Delaware’s Court of Chancery was meant to find out the worth of the Haslam family’s 20% stake in Pilot Travel Centers, the biggest U.S. truck stop chain.
It was expected to feature testimony from Buffett’s designated successor, Greg Abel.
The Haslams, including Cleveland Browns football team owner Jimmy Haslam, sold Berkshire 80% of Pilot for $11 billion in two separate deals, in 2017 and January 2023.
Additionally they have a put option, allowing them to sell the remaining 20% in the primary two months of any yr.
Pilot, which also operates under the Flying J brand, has about 650 locations and sold 13 billion gallons of fuel in 2022.
All sides has accused the opposite of accounting tricks to control the Knoxville, Tennessee-based company’s earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, which determines the worth of the Haslam’s 20% stake.
In line with the Haslams, after Berkshire obtained the 80% Pilot stake it adopted “pushdown accounting” that would cut back how much it might owe if the put option were exercised.
A lawyer for Berkshire said in court that depending on which side’s accounting was used, EBIT would differ by $1.2 billion.
The trial final result would have turned on a straightforward query: was Berkshire required to get the Haslams’ consent for the accounting change?
Berkshire said it did nothing mistaken.
It said it has met its contractual obligations because adopting pushdown accounting didn’t amount to a change in “accounting policy.”
The trial comes lower than two months after the death of Charlie Munger, a Berkshire vice chairman and Buffett’s long-term confidante, left a void that increased Abel’s responsibilities on the Omaha, Nebraska, conglomerate.
Abel, 61, who can also be a vice chairman and maintains a low public profile, was publicly identified in 2021 as Buffett’s eventual successor as chief executive.
He was on lists of potential witnesses to be called by each Berkshire and the Haslams.
Buffett, 93, was not expected to testify on the trial.