Friday, October 10, 2014

Pilot Flying J dividend payment could mean another surplus for Knoxville

Last month, Standard & Poor released a report, noting that Pilot Flying J was buying back a bunch of its share. It got a little coverage, but the media that did mention it missed the big picture.

The truth is . . .  few care about a bunch of rich people buying back a company they already own more than 50 percent of. It's not like they're really buying back the company.

No, the real news is that the company will pay out $750 million in dividends to shareholders. So, what's the big deal? Well, it means the City of Knoxville can more than likely expect a whopping surplus from the Hall income tax at the end of next July.

DOCUMENT: S&P Report on Pilot

If you do the math (here, I'll do it for you) and you don't take any exemptions into account - and pretend all the shareholders live in Knoxville - then you're talking about a $16.8 million bonus check.

Now, it's not going to be that much, but if it's $15 million, don't be surprised. 

Here's a story we did about it last night. RIGHT SMACK HERE.

By the way, a similar dividend windfall happened back in 2012 when the Haslam family bought the Cleveland Browns. Joe Sullivan over the the Metro Pulse wrote briefly about it awhile back. Read that one RIGHT SMACK HERE.

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