How the Haslam family will remember the Pilot era as Berkshire Hathaway takes ownership

A favorite day of work for the Haslam family involved time spent inside Pilot Company travel centers.

They'd visit five or so locations in a day, getting to know team members, evaluating the customer service and, of course, checking the cleanliness of the restrooms.

Visiting one of Pilot's 870 locations will be different now, after the billionaire family sold their remaining 20% ownership of North America's largest travel center empire to Berkshire Hathaway last week in an undisclosed multi-billion-dollar deal.

But founder James "Jim" A. Haslam II, 93, still plans to stop at a Pilot whenever he needs a fill-up, even though he no longer owns the national brand he created in 1958.

"I will stop at a Pilot, and it will feel different," he told Knox News in an exclusive interview. "But that's OK. Things change, and you have to get used to change."

Former Pilot CEO and chairman Jimmy Haslam is adjusting, too. For this first time in 46 years, he isn't checking sales from the previous day when he wakes up or petroleum profit margins right before he goes to bed.

The three Haslams - founder Jim Haslam, his son Jimmy Haslam and his granddaughter Whitney Haslam Johnson - most closely tied to the family business at the time of the sale reflected to Knox News on the end of an era.

"Dad was there 65 years, I was there 46, Whitney was there 18," Jimmy Haslam said. "For Whitney and I, it was never not part of our life."

Growing up, that meant sizing up competitors was part of family vacations. Jimmy Haslam remembers riding to Daytona Beach on a two-lane road, bugged that his father insisted on price checking small-town gas stations along the way.

Jimmy was the one checking the prices at every Love's, TA and Racetrack on a road trip with two of his grandsons a few years ago.

"It's a very intense, data-driven, lots-of-things-going-on business, so we miss that," Jimmy Haslam said. "I think, more importantly, we will miss the team members, a lot of whom we worked with for 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years. Some of them have grown up with us, literally."

Haslam Johnson will most miss the camaraderie. She left Pilot's C-suite last year to become chief experience officer of Haslam Sports Group.

"I was blessed to have a ton of amazing mentors that I learned under, and so many great people that I worked with," Haslam Johnson said. "There is no doubt that it's going to be bittersweet."

Berkshire, Haslam family had 'philosophical differences'

Everyone will have to adjust as Pilot and the Haslam family disentangle. In Knoxville, it's hard to think of the two as separate, even though in many parts of the country the name Haslam is better known for their growing professional sports empire or former Gov. Bill Haslam's time leading Tennessee.

But this transition has been years in the making. The sale announced Jan. 16 was the final transfer of power that began in 2017, when Berkshire Hathaway acquired a minority stake in the company and laid a path for buying the whole company.

"I’m very glad we own Pilot. I just wish we bought 100% of it when I first made the deal, but that was not the deal that was offered to us," Buffett told shareholders in 2023.

The transition of power hit high gear in early 2023, when Berkshire Hathaway became majority owner with an 80% stake, for which it paid $10.96 billion. The holding company, usually known for being rather hands off with the businesses it buys, replaced the Haslam-appointed CEO and CFO with longtime Berkshire executives.

At that point, "we realized things were going to be run differently, and there were some philosophical differences," Jimmy Haslam told Knox News. "Listen, it (was) their right, they owned 80% of the company and paid us a lot of money for that 80%. We just thought it was best for our family to go ahead and sell the 20% and to move on, and we certainly wish the company and all its team members nothing but the best of luck."

The relationship turned litigious at the end of last year. With a looming 60-day window to sell the remaining 20% in early 2024, both sides sued over alleged tampering with the sale price. The suits were settled out of court with undisclosed terms.

The sale announcement came days later, and during negotiations Jim Haslam had a final conversation with Buffett "that eventually ended up in everything working out," Jim Haslam said. "It was a satisfactory conversation."

Buffett, 93, has a business empire that spans from oil to home insurance to manufactured homes.

Since Berkshire first took a minority stake, the Omaha-based billionaire investor has committed to keeping Pilot's headquarters in Knoxville.

Buffett doubled down on that commitment in a Jan. 17 email to Knox News: "Pilot will be staying in Knoxville, you can bet on that," he wrote.

Haslam family commits to University of Tennessee philanthropy

You can also bet on continued Haslam family charitable giving in Knoxville, the family reiterated.

Jimmy Haslam said that means focusing on the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and K-12 education, including private, public and charter schools.

Some of the family's giving priorities at UT have been the Haslam College of Business, the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, the College of Music, Haslam Leadership Scholars, and Athletics.

They also will continue to support health care and culture causes, Jim Haslam said. The family has supported UT Medical Center, East Tennessee Children's Hospital, United Way, Lakeshore Park, the Knoxville Museum of Art and the Knoxville Symphony.

"It's our hope that, even though some of us might not be there as much, we'll still be an integral part of making Knoxville a great place to live, raise a family, work, et cetera," said Jimmy Haslam, who spends much of his time in Ohio overseeing his growing sports empire.

Haslam family sports empire grew as Pilot ownership shrank

As the Haslam family sold their majority and then minority stakes in Pilot, they were ramping up investment in sports.

"The Haslams are kind of shifting over to sports," Jim Haslam told Knox News.

Jimmy and Dee Haslam are chairman and CEO, respectively, of Haslam Sports Group and have been majority owners of the Cleveland Browns since 2012. They became minority owners of the Milwaukee Bucks in April 2023, around the time Berkshire was flexing control over Pilot.

Jimmy Haslam's sports teams: Vast empire spans from Browns to Bucks and beyond

Former Gov. Bill Haslam and wife Crissy became minority owners of the Nashville Predators in 2022 and are slated to become majority owners by July 1, 2025.

Jimmy Haslam's net worth is $8.6 billion, and Bill Haslam's is $5.6 billion, according to Forbes estimates.

What Haslam family will remember about Pilot's legacy

Following the sale, Jim Haslam now works from the family office in downtown Knoxville instead of Pilot headquarters on Lonas Drive, but his mind lingers on the travel and fuel empire he built out of one gas station in Gate City, Virginia.

From one gas station, the Haslams became one of the most influential families in America while building the largest travel center operator and third-largest tanker fleet in North America with the help of 30,000 employees.

Pilot fuels and feeds the trucking industry, but Haslam Johnson said it's bigger than that. Her family played a role in keeping America moving.

That mission felt most significant to them when COVID-19 threatened the American way of life.

"Everything else shut down, everybody else worked from home, but I think we had 650 travel centers or truck stops at the time," Jimmy Haslam said. "They were open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We never closed. Everybody came in. Everybody worked. Nobody understood what COVID was, ... but to see our people rally and to see the trucking industry do that during those times, that's what's special to you. That's what we'll miss."

Jim Haslam will miss the three-generation families who worked for Pilot, the entry-level kids who matured into executives, the employees who raised families and lost loved ones.

"When something happens to somebody at Pilot, we close ranks, and we make sure that person is taken care of," Jim Haslam said. "And believe me, in 65 years, we've had a lot of things happen that we had to do that, and we've always done it. And I guess that, if you ask me what I'm most proud of at Pilot, I would say how we always tried to help people when they needed help."

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Haslam family talks Pilot sale to Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway