Forbes.com is reporting that the Internal Revenue Service has won a $388 million settlement against the estate of Guardian Industries Corp.'s Bill Davidson.
Two years ago, Davidson's estate took the IRS to U.S. tax court to challenge the assessment of additional taxes on the estate after the government said it owed more than $2 billion in estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes.
To put the settlement amount in context: Davidson's widow, Karen Davidson, sold the Detroit Pistons and Palace Sports & Entertainment Inc. to Tom Gores four years ago for just $325 million.
Davidson died in 2009.
Read the full Forbes story here.
Guardian Industries, a manufacturer of glass for automobiles and buildings, was founded in 1932 as a windshield fabricator. Davidson became president of the family company after its Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1957. Davidson added plastics to encapsulate glass windows and eventually added capacity to mold complete exterior panels.
The glassmaker formed a Warren, Mich.-based subsidiary, SRG Global Inc., in 2009 after the acquisition of St. Louis-based Siegel-Robert Automotive. SRG, a supplier of chrome-plated plastic parts
Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Guardian's sales peaked in 2007, topping $5.75 billion, according to Crain's estimates. Guardian employs roughly 17,000 workers in 25 countries and generated sales of $5.6 billion in 2014.