Skip to footer

Warren Buffett the car buff? Billionaire buys Van Tuyl Group.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is buying the privately-owned auto dealership company Van Tuyl Group as the billionaire looks to make inroads into the auto industry. If completed, the deal would give Warren Buffett control of the largest privately owned auto dealership group in the US. 

|
Robin Buckson/Detroit News/AP/File
Warren Buffett talks with Dan Gilbert during an event in Detroit last month. Buffett has agreed to buy the Van Tuyl Group, a privately owned auto dealer with 78 independently operated dealerships and more than 100 franchises in 10 states.
  • By Staff Associated Press

| Omaha, Neb.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is buying the privately-owned auto dealership company Van Tuyl Group.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Van Tuyl Group says it is the biggest privately owned auto dealership group in the U.S. It has 78 independently operated dealerships and more than 100 franchises in 10 states. The company will be renamed Berkshire Hathaway Automotive and be based in Dallas.

Current CEO Larry Van Tuyl will become chairman of the auto unit. Cecil Van Tuyl, Larry's father, started with a Kansas City Chevrolet dealership in 1955. He was joined in the family business by Larry in 1971, according to the company's website.

"After becoming a part of the Berkshire Hathaway family of businesses, the company will be known as Berkshire Hathaway Automotive. Berkshire Hathaway Automotive will continue to be led by Larry Van Tuyl, who will become Chairman, and Jeff Rachor, who will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer, as well as its experienced senior management team, a press announcemnt of the deal reads. "Berkshire Hathaway Automotive will be headquartered in Dallas, Texas and will continue to pursue its strategy of operational excellence and disciplined acquisition growth, which is no change to the business model the company has pursued for the last 62 years."

“The Van Tuyl Group fits perfectly into Berkshire Hathaway from both a financial and cultural viewpoint. Larry Van Tuyl along with his father, Cecil, spent decades building outstanding dealerships operated by local partners. In recent years, he has shared management with Jeff Rachor, a seasoned auto retailer who will retain a financial interest in all dealerships. The Van Tuyl Group enjoys excellent relations with the major auto manufacturers and delivers unusually high volumes at its 78 locations. This is just the beginning for Berkshire Hathaway Automotive,”  Mr. Buffett said in a statement.

“We are proud of all that has been accomplished with the support of our dealer partners, our employees and the manufacturers that we represent. We are very pleased to have one of the world’s most respected companies, Berkshire Hathaway, assume ownership of our company with the commitment to preserving our unique culture, business model and philosophy,” said Larry Van Tuyl, current Chief Executive Officer of the Van Tuyl Group, in the press announcement. “I cannot think of a better steward to continue the legacy of what my father and I have built over the last 62 years, and I am confident this transaction will position the company on a course of continued success.”

The deal is expected to close in 2015's first quarter. It still needs approval from major auto manufacturers.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Warren Buffett the car buff? Billionaire buys Van Tuyl Group.
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2014/1002/Warren-Buffett-the-car-buff-Billionaire-buys-Van-Tuyl-Group
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe