© 2024 WVIK
Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Economy

Warren Buffet Buying Nearby Truck Stops

A well-known investor is going to buy a major stake in Pilot Flying J truck stops and will become a majority owner within about five years. Warren Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway, says it will buy 38 percent of the company, and that stake will rise to 80 percent in 2023. 

Pilot Flying J owns 750 truck stops in 44 states and Canada, including Davenport, Walcott, and Atalissa in Iowa, and Woodhull and Princeton in Illinois. 

Pilot Flying J, which is run by Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, has been under scrutiny in recent years because of a diesel fuel rebate scam that led to criminal charges against several executives.  The company paid an $85 million settlement with some of the defrauded customers as well as a $92 million penalty to the government.
 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.