When Warren Buffett handed the reins to Greg Abel at the end of 2025, the big question was what Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKB)(NYSE: BRKA) would do with its enormous pile of cash. We're starting to get an answer, and it has a name: Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)(NASDAQ: GOOG).
Berkshire has rapidly built a position in the Google parent worth more than $20 billion. That's a striking move for a company whose new CEO could easily have spent his first months playing it safe. So what does Abel see in Alphabet, and what does the buying say about how he plans to deploy Berkshire's capital?
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Berkshire first bought a small amount of Alphabet in the third quarter of 2025, while Buffett was still CEO. But the scale of the purchases changed dramatically once Abel took over. In the first quarter of 2026, Berkshire more than tripled its Alphabet holding. That pushed the position to about $16.6 billion by the end of March, enough to make Alphabet its seventh-largest equity holding.
And then, in June, Berkshire agreed to a $10 billion private placement of Alphabet stock, buying about 28.6 million new shares directly from the company as part of Alphabet's massive equity raise. The purchase was split evenly between Alphabet's two publicly traded share classes, at prices modestly below where the stock traded at the time.
Berkshire has rapidly built a position in the Google parent worth more than $20 billion. That's a striking move for a company whose new CEO could easily have spent his first months playing it safe. So what does Abel see in Alphabet, and what does the buying say about how he plans to deploy Berkshire's capital?
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Berkshire first bought a small amount of Alphabet in the third quarter of 2025, while Buffett was still CEO. But the scale of the purchases changed dramatically once Abel took over. In the first quarter of 2026, Berkshire more than tripled its Alphabet holding. That pushed the position to about $16.6 billion by the end of March, enough to make Alphabet its seventh-largest equity holding.
And then, in June, Berkshire agreed to a $10 billion private placement of Alphabet stock, buying about 28.6 million new shares directly from the company as part of Alphabet's massive equity raise. The purchase was split evenly between Alphabet's two publicly traded share classes, at prices modestly below where the stock traded at the time.
20 days ago
