Warren Buffett’s successor Greg Abel makes another $10 billion bet

Greg Abel has been running Berkshire Hathaway for barely six months, and he has already reshaped the contours of the conglomerate’s stock portfolio. 

His latest move is the largest single technology bet in Berkshire’s history, aimed at a company Buffett spent decades publicly regretting he had not bought sooner.

Abel committed $10 billion to Alphabet (GOOGL) through a private placement inside the tech giant’s massive $84.75 billion equity raise this month. 

That purchase came in addition to the roughly $10 billion to $11 billion he is estimated to have spent buying Alphabet shares on the open market during the first quarter, based on how many shares Berkshire added and the stock's average price in Q1 2026.

Abel secured a 6.5% discount in Alphabet’s historic $84.75 billion equity raise

The $10 billion placement was split between Alphabet's Class A and Class C shares at prices roughly 6.5% below market, according to securities filings.

The deal originated from a weekend phone call from Goldman Sachs to Berkshire, which was assembling Alphabet's broader offering as placement agent and joint book-running manager, Bloomberg reported. 

Abel quickly signed off on the $10 billion commitment, reinforcing what Bloomberg called Berkshire's role as the first port of call for companies seeking large capital infusions.

David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland and a longtime Berkshire shareholder, told CNBC the Google discount echoes Berkshire's 2008 crisis-era investments in Goldman Sachs and other companies.

Berkshire’s Alphabet stake grew from $4 billion to $26 billion in under a year

Berkshire first purchased Alphabet shares in the third quarter of 2025, building a position valued at roughly $4.3 billion, according to Berkshire's 13F filing for the period ended September 30, 2025.

Once Abel took control on January 1, 2026, the pace of accumulation accelerated sharply, and he more than tripled the stake during the first quarter.

That buying spree added roughly 36.4 million Class A shares, bringing total Alphabet holdings to approximately $15.6 billion by March 31.

The subsequent $10 billion private placement pushed total Alphabet exposure past $26 billion, making it one of Berkshire’s five largest common stock positions.

As of the first quarter filing, Apple led the portfolio at roughly 22%, followed by American Express, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, and Chevron.

Michael M&period Santiago&solGetty Images

Google Cloud growth and AI capex anchor the case for Alphabet's elevated valuation

Alphabet plans to deploy proceeds from the private placement and underwritten offerings toward AI compute infrastructure, while approximately $30 billion from the separate at-the-market program is earmarked for 2026 employee equity tax obligations, the company disclosed in its June 1 prospectus.

Management outlined planned capital expenditures between $180 billion and $190 billion for 2026, with a further significant increase projected for the following year.

The spending is already producing visible returns in the company's cloud computing division, which posted 63% revenue growth in the most recent quarter. 

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Google Cloud's operating margin expanded to 32.9% from 17.8% a year earlier, transforming the segment from a cash consumer into a profit contributor.

Alphabet’s total revenue climbed 22% year over year in the same period, with improving results across both cloud and core advertising.

At roughly 25 times forward earnings, the stock trades below Apple's forward multiple of about 30-34, depending on the data provider.

Buffett endorses Abel's pace as observers weigh his tech turn

Buffett also praised Abel's other early move, the $6.8 billion acquisition of Taylor Morrison, announced the same week.

Kass added that the Alphabet commitment reveals a genuine comfort with technology that distinguishes Abel from his predecessor's established patterns, describing Abel as willing to move quickly across both transactions and comfortable investing in tech.

The distinction carries weight because Buffett spent decades defining Berkshire around businesses he understood intuitively, such as insurance, consumer brands, and banking. 

He famously characterized Berkshire’s hugely profitable Apple position as a consumer products bet rather than a technology wager, as CNBC reported in its June 2 analysis of Abel's deal spree.

What the Alphabet concentration reveals about Berkshire’s direction under Abel

Abel's first six months have also included the Taylor Morrison deal, a housing bet that pairs against the Alphabet tech bet to suggest a deliberately diversified opening hand.

He simultaneously closed or reduced more than a dozen positions inherited from the prior portfolio, signaling a preference for concentrated capital deployment.

Berkshire ended the first quarter with a record cash pile that CNBC put at nearly $400 billion, giving Abel room to continue adding to existing stakes or pursue new ones entirely.

Whether the Alphabet position is likely to grow further depends on the stock’s price trajectory and on Google Cloud’s ability to sustain its growth.

Abel has preserved Berkshire's longstanding discipline around valuation, as the negotiated 6.5% discount demonstrates.

The Alphabet position also shows Abel willing to count AI infrastructure among the durable, cash-generative businesses that historically defined Berkshire's circle of competence.

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