Berkshire Ends 14-Quarter Selling Streak, Alphabet Becomes Third-Largest Stock Holding

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Berkshire Hathaway ended a 14-quarter streak of net equity selling in Q2 2026, with Alphabet now its third-largest stock holding. The firm boosted its stake by 83%, holding nearly 106 million shares valued at $37.8 billion. This follows a $10 billion private investment in June to support Alphabet’s AI expansion. Berkshire also reported $23.5 billion in stock purchases during the quarter, signaling a shift in its crypto investment strategy. Value investing in crypto remains a key focus for long-term capital allocation.

Berkshire Hathaway sharply increased its Alphabet investment during the second quarter, lifting Google’s parent company to its third-largest stock holding as the conglomerate broke a 14-quarter streak of net equity selling.

A regulatory filing released after the market closed Friday showed Berkshire held nearly 106 million Alphabet shares worth about $37.8 billion. That put Alphabet behind only Apple, valued at roughly $66 billion, and American Express at about $51.3 billion in Berkshire’s U.S.-listed stock portfolio.

The move represents an 83% increase from the roughly 57.8 million Alphabet shares Berkshire held three months earlier.

Berkshire Builds a Much Bigger Alphabet Position

Berkshire added about 48.1 million Alphabet shares during the second quarter, according to the filing.

Part of the expansion was already known. Berkshire agreed in June to invest $10 billion in Alphabet through a private stock deal tied to the technology company’s push to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure. But the latest filing reveals the full scale of Berkshire’s position at quarter-end.

The change is even more striking over a longer period.

At the end of December 2025, Berkshire owned about 17.8 million Alphabet shares worth approximately $5.6 billion. Six months later, the position had grown to nearly 106 million shares and $37.8 billion.

Alphabet has said it plans to raise $80 billion to help fund computing infrastructure for its AI products, making Berkshire’s growing stake a major bet on one of the companies spending most aggressively on the artificial intelligence boom.

Warren Buffett has previously said he initiated Berkshire’s Alphabet investment, although Greg Abel now serves as Berkshire’s CEO and oversees capital allocation alongside the company’s investment managers.

Berkshire Turns From Seller to Buyer

The Alphabet disclosure comes alongside a broader change in Berkshire’s investment activity.

Berkshire bought about $23.5 billion of stocks during the second quarter while selling roughly $3.7 billion, according to Reuters. That ended 14 consecutive quarters in which the company had been a net seller of equities.

Berkshire’s own second-quarter report also shows the scale of its recent activity. For the first six months of 2026, it reported $39.4 billion in equity purchases and $27.8 billion in sales.

The company has not abandoned its enormous liquidity cushion. Berkshire reported about $35.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents and $324.9 billion in short-term U.S. Treasury bills in its insurance and other businesses as of June 30.

Still, the latest portfolio disclosure suggests Berkshire is becoming more willing to deploy that capital.

Alphabet was not the only addition. Berkshire increased its Lennar stake by nearly 30%, established a small position in D.R. Horton and substantially increased its Delta Air Lines holdings. It also completed its $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison in July.

But Alphabet stands apart because of its size.

A position worth nearly $38 billion has pushed one of the world’s largest technology and AI companies into the top tier of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio — a notable shift for an investment empire that spent much of Warren Buffett’s career keeping technology at arm’s length.

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