Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) on Solana

Warren Buffett has publicly addressed Berkshire Hathaway's roughly $30 billion position in Alphabet, framing the investment as a partial correction of a long-standing oversight. Buffett acknowledged that Berkshire should have invested in Google Search far earlier, noting that subsidiaries such as Geico had been heavy users of Google's advertising platform for years — making the missed opportunity particularly glaring. The $30 billion figure includes a $10 billion private placement completed in June 2026, and Buffett emphasized that he personally initiated the investment decision despite having retired as CEO at the end of 2025, adding that he and current CEO Greg Abel remain aligned on capital allocation.

Despite the scale of the position, Buffett was candid that Alphabet is not his highest-conviction holding. He disclosed that "there are still four or five other stocks" he considers better businesses, a list that likely includes Apple, Coca-Cola, and American Express. The investment thesis nonetheless reflects confidence in Alphabet's infrastructure buildout — particularly Google Cloud's 60% year-over-year revenue growth and its AI positioning through Gemini — rather than a speculative bet on AI hype. Buffett's framing suggests the Alphabet stake is as much about rectifying a missed compounding opportunity as it is a forward-looking wager on the company's capital deployment capacity.

Berkshire Hathaway liquidated its entire positions in both Mastercard and Visa during Q1 2026, a move that coincided with Greg Abel formally taking over as CEO from Warren Buffett. Rather than signaling concern about the payments networks, the exit appears to reflect a deliberate portfolio reshuffling: Berkshire simultaneously more than tripled its stake in Alphabet, elevating it to one of the firm's largest holdings alongside Apple.

The divestment illustrates how Abel is reorienting Berkshire's equity book toward big-technology exposure and away from financial-services infrastructure plays, with capital allocation driven by opportunity-cost thinking rather than deteriorating business fundamentals at the companies sold. Analysts note that Mastercard's underlying business — its asset-light payments network and exposure to the ongoing shift from cash — remains intact; Berkshire simply concluded it had better uses for the capital. The move adds to a pattern of early Abel-era repositioning that also included a new position in Delta Air Lines, suggesting the new CEO is willing to make substantive portfolio changes rather than simply maintaining Buffett's legacy holdings.

Warren Buffett donated approximately $6 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares — roughly 12 million shares — to four family foundations: the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation. Notably absent from this year's distribution was the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, marking the first time since 2006 that Buffett has not made his customary annual gift to the organization. Buffett cited Bill Gates' documented ties to Jeffrey Epstein as the reason, saying he has not spoken with Gates since the scandal became public and does not anticipate substantial contact until the matter is resolved.

The break signals a meaningful shift in Buffett's philanthropic trajectory as he approaches 96 and continues executing on his stated plan to dispose of all Berkshire shares by December 31, 2034. Since the giving partnership began two decades ago, Buffett had donated more than $47 billion to the Gates Foundation. Redirecting this year's tranche entirely to his family foundations concentrates control closer to home while the annual share distributions continue to reduce his Berkshire stake on a predictable schedule.

Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares are being discussed as a candidate for inclusion in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with Nike potentially on the way out to make room. Analysts point to Berkshire's diversified footprint across insurance, rail, utilities, manufacturing, and consumer businesses as a rationale for adding it to an index meant to represent the broader U.S. economy. No official announcement or timeline has been confirmed by the Dow Jones index committee.

Because the Dow is price-weighted, it would be BRK.B — not the six-figure Class A shares — that would factor into index calculations, limiting any single outsized influence on index movements. A confirmed addition would likely trigger short-term volatility around rebalancing dates as passive Dow-tracking funds adjust allocations, while also broadening institutional exposure to Berkshire alongside existing blue-chip constituents such as Apple and Microsoft.

Greg Abel, Warren Buffett's hand-picked successor, has moved quickly to put his own stamp on Berkshire Hathaway's equity portfolio since taking over as CEO. Roughly 30% of Berkshire's stock portfolio is now concentrated in Apple and Alphabet combined, with Alphabet alone climbing to approximately 9% of holdings and ranking as a top-five position — a stake Abel has been actively building. The tilt toward big-cap technology reflects a meaningful shift in tone from Buffett's historically consumer-and-financials-weighted approach.

Among Berkshire's less-scrutinized positions, grocery chain Kroger stands out as a potential value play within the portfolio. Kroger trades near its 52-week low around $58 per share and carries a forward P/E of roughly 11x alongside a five-year PEG ratio of 0.57 — below the threshold typically associated with undervaluation. Wall Street's median price target of $72.50 implies about 24% upside, and the company has raised its dividend for 19 consecutive years with a payout ratio of just 21%, leaving room for further increases. As a defensive consumer staple, Kroger offers a counterweight to Berkshire's growing technology concentration.

Berkshire Hathaway's Q1 2026 13F filing disclosed a $2.65 billion position in Delta Air Lines, representing roughly 1% of Berkshire's portfolio and marking Greg Abel's first significant airline investment since succeeding Warren Buffett as CEO. Abel initiated the stake during Q1 as airline stocks sold off sharply following the Iran war outbreak in late February, which caused jet fuel prices to nearly double — buying into weakness rather than waiting for clarity.

The move is a direct reversal of Buffett's long-held stance on airlines, which he famously called a "bottomless pit" before exiting the sector entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Abel's thesis appears anchored in Delta's structural advantages, particularly its Pennsylvania oil refinery — acquired in 2012 for roughly $270 million — which offset approximately $300 million in Q1 fuel costs despite the broader industry's $2 billion net fuel cost increase. The bet signals that Abel is willing to pursue counter-cyclical, thesis-driven investments in sectors his predecessor avoided, and investors will be watching upcoming 13F filings and shareholder communications to determine whether airlines represent a one-off call or a broader shift in how Berkshire deploys capital.

Taylor Morrison Home (NYSE: TMHC) shareholders vote July 22 on Berkshire Hathaway's $8.5 billion acquisition of the homebuilder, which carries a premium of more than 20% over its $6.6 billion market capitalization. Approval is considered highly likely given the premium on offer, but a rejection would pressure Taylor Morrison's share price significantly.

The deal marks an early capital deployment move by new CEO Greg Abel, who plans to consolidate Berkshire's housing businesses into a unified operation — a departure from Warren Buffett's longstanding policy of leaving subsidiaries to run independently. The acquisition draws from Berkshire's nearly $400 billion cash reserve, representing a modest but strategically notable commitment that investors will watch as a signal of how Abel intends to manage the conglomerate going forward.

While Wall Street focuses on CEO Greg Abel's capital allocation moves — including Berkshire's growing Alphabet stake — portfolio manager Ted Weschler has been the quiet outperformer of 2026, with his concentrated positions in DaVita (up roughly 102% year-to-date) and Sirius XM (up around 50%) generating outsized returns within Berkshire's equity portfolio. Weschler, who joined Berkshire in 2012 after paying a record $5.25 million to dine with Warren Buffett, manages a smaller sleeve of the portfolio independently of Todd Combs but has consistently earned his keep during periods when the broader conglomerate has lagged the S&P 500. His success highlights that Berkshire's investment engine remains active beneath the surface even as Abel's strategic and operational choices dominate the narrative in the post-Buffett transition. For shareholders, Weschler's DaVita and Sirius positions represent a value-oriented, contrarian thread running alongside Abel's more technology-friendly tilt.

Simply Wall St's discounted cash flow model puts Berkshire Hathaway's fair value at roughly $943,786 per BRK.A share against a recent close near $756,000, implying the stock trades approximately 20% below intrinsic value. The analysis attributes the gap to the market's cautious re-rating of Berkshire under new CEO Greg Abel, citing risks that a leadership transition could unsettle investor confidence or that the company's record cash hoard — near $397 billion — may weigh on returns if left undeployed longer than expected.

Abel's decision to commit around $10 billion to a private placement in Alphabet has been highlighted as an early signal that he intends to actively deploy capital and is comfortable with large technology bets. Analysts note the move reinforces confidence in Berkshire's diversified operating businesses and its long track record of disciplined capital allocation, which underpin the bull case that the current valuation discount represents an opportunity rather than a structural re-rating.

Berkshire Hathaway has accumulated roughly $41 billion in Alphabet stock, making it the conglomerate's fourth-largest single-company equity position — larger than its Coca-Cola holding, though behind Apple and American Express. Berkshire began buying in Q3 2025 and added a $10 billion private placement announced June 1, 2026, bringing combined Class A and Class C share holdings to over 86 million shares as of the latest 13F filing.

Analysts point to three drivers behind the concentration: Alphabet's exceptional business fundamentals (22% year-over-year revenue growth to $110 billion in Q1, a 36% operating margin, and $73 billion in free cash flow in 2025), a valuation that looks reasonable at a 12-month average P/E of 26.6 versus the S&P 500's 25, and confidence in Alphabet's AI capital expenditure program. Berkshire appears to view Alphabet's planned $180–190 billion in AI capex as likely to generate satisfactory returns, given the company's presence across chips, cloud infrastructure, model development, and AI-powered advertising tools.