With convenience store chain Pilot Travel Centers now majority owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the Warren Buffet-led conglomerate made its first significant moves by ousting two leaders of existing management and putting Berkshire executives in their place.
Adam Wright will become CEO of the company effective May 30. On the same day, Joe Lillo will become CFO.
That announcement came Monday. In the other big shift going on among the largest truck stop chains, TravelCenters of America (NASDAQ: TA) said Tuesday that the 30-day period mandated by federal antitrust law had passed without action by the Federal Trade Commission and that TA’s acquisition by BP (NYSE: BP) was cleared to close.
At Pilot, current CEO Shameek Konar and current CFO Kevin Wills will leave the company “after supporting the transition.” Konar had been in the top role since November 2020.
In a series of short videos sent to the company’s employees, James A. “Jimmy” Haslam III, a former CEO and a member of the founding Haslam family, interviews Wright about his role at Pilot.
“With Berkshire Hathaway coming on board, they have decided to make two changes,” Haslam says in one of the videos, stressing that there are “two changes only.”
“They want to put individuals in that they have worked with a long time,” he said. Haslam went on to describe an “excellent relationship” he has developed with Wright.
“If you like people, like having a lot of different things going on and you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, this is the perfect place for you,” Haslam tells Wright in one of the videos.
Wright’s move into the top spot at Pilot marks a return to Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A). He was most recently COO and executive vice president of operations at Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE: PCG). But before that, he was at Berkshire-owned midstream company MidAmerican Energy Co., where he was president and CEO between 2018 and 2021, according to LinkedIn. He was at MidAmerican for nine years. MidAmerican is now known as Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
Wright first joined Berkshire Hathaway in 1996, according to a spokesman for Pilot.
Lillo was most recently vice president of finance at Northern Natural Gas, a Berkshire Hathaway company.
He also was a running back for the New York Giants, which signed him in 2001 as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Berkshire Hathaway is based in Omaha.
The announcement by TA about the passing of the 30 days under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act is significant because it means the FTC is not going to take action to block the transaction. It also is another signal that TA remains committed to being bought by BP and is rejecting the offer from convenience store operator Arko (NASDAQ: ARKO), which is more lucrative on a per share basis but which TA has rejected on several other financial grounds. BP bid $86 per share; Arko bid $92.
In its short announcement of the 30-day mark having been reached, TA said nothing about the Arko bid, which it has publicly rejected twice, the second time on April 3. A week earlier, in its proxy statement, TA rejected Arko without identifying it as the alternative bidder to BP.
The special shareholders meeting to approve the BP bid is May 10, the company said. It is expected to close May 15. Shareholders of record on March 23 may vote in the approval process.
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Barry B. Redden
Ta and Petro’s are pretty run down. I will be surprised if BP is going to spend what is needed to bring these travel centers up to current standards.
Eifort Elixers
Welcome Back BORON
Wayne Buell
I hope they open the restaurants again it’s getting harder then heck to find a place to sit and have a actual good meal.
Joshua McCord
TA used to have the wonderful option of the soup and salad bar , that most people like myself really enjoyed, and wish to see come back, as it is a very healthy choice, after being on the road for hours.
We get sick of eating fast food , it is very unhealthy, but we try an eat as healthy as we possibly can.
Scott moehrkr
Hopefully you will do some major remodeling alot of
The stops are filthy .fuel islands are bad greasy terriable .especially the franchise owned maybe put in some sort of sit down resturants up keep on parking lots are expensive i get it but got to figure out
To do away with paid parking the lake station store needs to be put back on line ( resturant) thanks scott
William Manning
I quit eating at all truck stops because I found I can make my meal anytime and not have the hassle of big corporate raising the price for bigger profit. TA/PETRO was great back in the 89s and 90s after that they went down hill let’s see what BP has in store of this buyout.
Abdou W
This is quite informative. Thank you for piecing it together. Erik K is right about many TA’s across the country accommodating drivers better despite having typically outdated facilities and the like. You can typically sitting and enjoy Ana actual meal and casinos and overall great experience outside of your truck. Times have change and it seems those changes haven’t favored them. I hope BP do something amazing with TA, they got HUGE real estate to work with at their truck stops; typically the biggest ones in the industry.
Erik Klingeman
Regarding the TA sale. If you’ve traveled around the country and seen how many of the sit down restaurants situated within the facility have been closed. Perhaps casualties of Covid but yet that is behind us and they remain closed substituting unhealthy high profit fast food instead. There are many many truck drivers who value our health and the opportunity to sit down and eat a REAL meal once in awhile.