Berkshire Hathaway significantly increased its investment in Alphabet during the second quarter of 2026, adding approximately $17 billion of shares as the conglomerate deployed more of its enormous cash position under CEO Greg Abel. Berkshire added approximately 48.1 million Alphabet shares during the quarter, making the Google parent by far the company’s largest equity portfolio addition, according to CNBC.
Berkshire acquired about 60% of those shares directly from Alphabet through a $10 billion private placement announced in early June.
That implies Berkshire purchased approximately another $7 billion of Alphabet shares through the open market during the quarter.
The investment represents one of Berkshire’s most significant recent moves into a major technology company and comes as the company begins deploying more of the cash accumulated during Warren Buffett’s later years running the business.
Alphabet was not Berkshire’s only major addition during the quarter.
The company increased its position in Delta Air Lines by approximately 44%, adding roughly $1.6 billion to the investment.
Berkshire held about 57.3 million Delta shares as of June 30, valued at about $5.1 billion based on recent market prices cited in the report.
Delta returned to Berkshire’s portfolio during the first quarter of 2026.
The move is notable because Berkshire previously exited Delta and three other airline investments in early 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented collapse in passenger travel.
Buffett had long expressed skepticism about airline economics after several previous investments in the sector produced disappointing results.
Berkshire’s renewed Delta position under Abel therefore represents a notable shift from the portfolio decisions made during the early stages of the pandemic.
Berkshire also expanded several smaller investments.
Its Macy’s position increased by approximately 142%, although the dollar increase was only around $100 million because the overall stake remains relatively small.
The company also added approximately $280 million to its holding in homebuilder Lennar.
That increase came during the same quarter that Berkshire announced its approximately $6.8 billion acquisition of Taylor Morrison Home, further increasing its exposure to the U.S. housing market.
At the same time, Berkshire continued reducing several major financial-sector investments.
The company cut its Ally Financial position by approximately 7% and reduced its Capital One stake by roughly 58%.
Berkshire also sold approximately 5.9% of its Bank of America position.
Because Bank of America remains one of Berkshire’s larger holdings, the relatively modest percentage reduction represented approximately $1.7 billion of stock, making it the company’s largest dollar reduction during the quarter.
Berkshire has now reduced its Bank of America stake by approximately 53% through eight consecutive quarters of selling.
The portfolio adjustments come amid broader changes in Berkshire’s capital allocation following Abel’s succession of Buffett as CEO.
Berkshire ended June with approximately $365.5 billion in cash, down about 8% from the end of March.
After excluding cash held by its railroad operations and accounting for Treasury bill-related payables, the company’s cash position stood at approximately $359.2 billion, down around 3.8% sequentially.
Berkshire also resumed meaningful repurchases of its own shares during the second quarter.
The company bought back approximately $4.5 billion of Berkshire stock, marking its first significant repurchase activity in roughly two years.
Even after those investments and buybacks, Berkshire continues to hold one of the largest corporate cash positions in the world.
The faster pace of deployment has nevertheless attracted scrutiny from some prominent investors.
Michael Burry, the investor best known for betting against the U.S. housing market before the global financial crisis, questioned whether Abel would maintain Buffett’s famously patient approach to capital allocation.
Burry said his biggest concern was that Buffett’s successor would lack the same willingness to wait for unusually attractive investment opportunities.
He subsequently said he believes that concern has materialized and that he no longer finds Berkshire attractive as an investment.
Burry acknowledged that Berkshire still holds roughly $360 billion in cash and has not spent most of its available capital.
His criticism instead centers on whether the early moves under Abel represent the highly selective investment decisions historically associated with Buffett.
Burry clarified that he is not recommending investors short Berkshire.
Buffett’s long-standing philosophy emphasized the ability to wait indefinitely for opportunities offering unusually favorable combinations of price, business quality and potential return.
He frequently compared that strategy with baseball player Ted Williams waiting for a pitch in his preferred hitting zone.
Despite Berkshire’s resumption of buybacks and increased investment activity, its shares declined more than 3% during the week following disclosure of the second-quarter moves.
As of the report, Berkshire Class A shares were trading around $755,570, while Class B shares were approximately $504.
The company’s market capitalization stood at roughly $1.08 trillion.
The $17 billion increase in Alphabet, however, is the clearest indication yet that Berkshire’s investment portfolio could take a different shape under Abel.
Combined with the renewed airline exposure, housing investments and share repurchases, the quarter shows Berkshire becoming more active in deploying a cash pile that remained largely untouched during the final stages of Buffett’s tenure as chief executive.
