Berkshire does phased deals like this when it is the wish of the sellers. There were at least two families involved at Pilot, not just the Haslams. Marmon with the Pritzker family was a similar phased transaction. Here is a post I wrote on another forum that lays out my best guess on the issue:

"If I had to guess, I would guess this: The second tranche of equity Berkshire purchased was extremely expensive and the price paid was based on a formula that was laid out in a contract years earlier. Berkshire paid what the formula spit out but Buffett was not happy about the way the game was played. But he honored his commitment. Then immediately Greg fires the Pilot CEO and CFO, brings in BHE and former BHE executives, and immediately exits a few of Pilot's newer lines of business. Now this disagreement over accounting methods / treatments comes public.

I think it is clear that Buffett didn't love what he saw and Greg is now in control cleaning it up. (notice the first listed defendant in the lawsuit is Abel) Buffett overpaid for the recent chunk of equity (much of which did not go to the Haslams, but to the other family). His reputation for honoring his commitments was more important that a few billion dollars.

Further confirmation would be when we see the goodwill write down on Pilot.

I'm sure he contrasts this behavior with the way the Pritzkers handled the multi-stage Marmon deal and this behavior compares unfavorably. Charlie would say that this (gaming of the system based on incentives in a contract) is exactly what we should expect and take it as a learning experience towards the next similar contract that MTO writes up for BRK. "