Berkshire Hathaway Buys Private Rodent-Control Company

Berkshire Hathaway, headed by Warren Buffett, purchased Bell Laboratories, a privately held rodent-control company, according to a list on Berkshire’s website and a media report. (Getty Images; Dreamstime)

Berkshire Hathaway has purchased Bell Laboratories, a leading, privately held rodent-control company.

Berkshire confirmed the deal for the Wisconsin-based company, which had been reported in several trade publications earlier in August. At that time, Berkshire didn’t confirm the purchase.

Bell Laboratories now appears on a list of Berkshire subsidiaries posted on the conglomerate’s website. Berkshire stock was up 0.8%, even as the S&P 500 slipped 0.6%.

Bell Labs bills itself as “the world leader in rodent control technology” with an array of baits and traps designed to catch rats, mice, and other rodents. The company’s revenue and the Berkshire purchase price couldn’t be determined.

Pest Management Professional, an industry publication and website, reported on Aug. 11 that Bell Labs had been purchased by Berkshire on July 31 and that it will continue to operate independently as a Berkshire unit.

The website reported that Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett, Berkshire executive Greg Abel (who is set to succeed Buffett as CEO at year-end), and Howard Buffett, Warren’s elder son and board member, appeared at Bell’s corporate headquarters on Aug. 4 with Bell CEO Steve Levy.

Buffett congratulated the company, founded in 1974, Pest Management Professional reported. Levy commented that thanks to the Berkshire acquisition, “Bell can be expected to be around for the next 50 years,” according to the report.

The company was founded by Malcolm Stack and was owned by his daughters until the sale to Berkshire, the publication reported. Buffett likes to buy family-owned companies with solid business prospects, and sellers like the autonomy that Berkshire provides.

Pest control is a hot business on Wall Street with Rollins , a publicly traded pest-control company, carrying a market value of $27 billion. Rollins stock trades for about 50 times projected 2025 earnings.

Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com