Berkshire and its subsidiaries hold investments in certain businesses that are accounted for pursuant to the equity method. Currently, the most significant of these is our investment in the common stock of The Kraft Heinz Company (“Kraft Heinz”). Kraft Heinz is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and marketers of food and beverage products, including condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee and other grocery products. Berkshire currently owns 325,442,152 shares of Kraft Heinz common stock representing 26.5% of the outstanding shares.

Our investment in Kraft Heinz produced equity method earnings of $194 million in the third quarter and $337 million in the first nine months of 2021. In 2020, our Kraft Heinz investment generated equity method earnings of $159 million in the third quarter and losses of $180 million in the first nine months. Our earnings in the first nine months of 2020 included charges of approximately $850 million for our proportionate share of the goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges recorded by Kraft Heinz. We received dividends on the common stock of $391 million in each of the first nine months of 2021 and 2020, which were recorded as reductions to the carrying value of our investment.

Shares of Kraft Heinz common stock are publicly-traded and the fair value of our investment was approximately $12.0 billion at September 30, 2021 and $11.3 billion at December 31, 2020. The carrying value of our investment was approximately $13.3 billion at September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020. As of September 30, 2021, the carrying value of our investment exceeded the fair value based on the quoted market price by approximately 10%. We evaluated our investment in Kraft Heinz for impairment. Based on the prevailing facts and circumstances, we concluded recognition of an impairment loss in earnings was not required as of September 30, 2021.

Summarized consolidated financial information of Kraft Heinz follows (in millions).

September 25,

2021

December 26,

2020

Assets

94,897

99,830

Liabilities

44,659

49,587

	Third Quarter				First Nine Months
	2021		2020		2021		2020
Sales	$	6,324	$	6,441	$	19,333	$	19,246
Net earnings (loss) attributable to Kraft Heinz common shareholders		733		597		1,269		(676	)	*

Other investments that we account for pursuant to the equity method include Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC (“Berkadia”), Pilot Travel Centers LLC (“Pilot”) and Electric Transmission Texas, LLC (“ETT”). The aggregate carrying value of these investments was approximately $3.4 billion as of September 30, 2021 and $4.0 billion as of December 31, 2020. Our equity method earnings from these entities in the first nine months were $438 million in 2021 and $513 million in 2020. During the first nine months of 2021, we received distributions of $1.0 billion from these other investees, including a non-recurring distribution received from Pilot of $849 million in the first quarter. Additional information concerning these investments follows.

We own a 50% interest in Berkadia, with Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (“Jefferies”) owning the other 50% interest. Berkadia provides capital solutions, investments sales advisory and mortgage servicing for multifamily and commercial real estate. A source of funding for Berkadia’s operations is through commercial paper, which was $1.47 billion at September 30, 2021 and is limited to $1.5 billion. Berkadia’s commercial paper is supported by a surety policy issued by a Berkshire insurance subsidiary. Jefferies is obligated to indemnify us for one-half of any losses incurred under the policy.

A Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company subsidiary owns a 50% interest in ETT, an owner and operator of electric transmission assets in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas footprint. American Electric Power owns the other 50% interest. We own a 38.6% interest in Pilot, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pilot is the largest operator of travel centers in North America through more than 1,000 retail locations across 44 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces and through wholesale distribution. The Haslam family currently owns a 50.1% interest in Pilot and a third party owns the remaining 11.3% interest. We also entered into an agreement to acquire an additional 41.4% interest in Pilot in 2023, with the Haslam family retaining a 20% interest. As a result, Berkshire will become the majority owner of Pilot in 2023.