Warren Buffett spent his final years as Berkshire Hathaway CEO sitting on a mountain of cash so large it made the GDP of most countries look modest. Greg Abel, his successor, apparently looked at that mountain and decided it was time to start spending.
In the first six months of 2026, Abel deployed approximately $39.4 billion into equity purchases, dwarfing the $7.1 billion Berkshire invested during the same stretch in 2025 under Buffett. That’s a more than fivefold increase in buying activity, and it represents the clearest signal yet that the post-Buffett era at Berkshire will look meaningfully different from the late-Buffett era.
From cash hoarder to aggressive buyer
Abel officially took the reins on January 1, 2026, after Buffett retired on December 31, 2025. He inherited a company sitting on nearly $397 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of Q1 2026, a war chest that had been growing for years as Buffett sold more than he bought across 14 consecutive quarters.
That selling spree is now definitively over. In the second quarter of 2026, Berkshire became a net buyer of stocks for the first time in more than three years, snapping up $23.5 billion in marketable equities. The company also executed share buybacks worth roughly $4.2 to $4.5 billion during the quarter.
The Alphabet bet
The centerpiece of Abel’s buying spree has been Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Berkshire more than tripled its Alphabet stake in Q1 2026, then added approximately $17 billion more in Q2, including a $10 billion private placement alongside open-market purchases.
By early September 2026, Berkshire’s total Alphabet position had swelled to roughly $36.6 billion, making it one of the conglomerate’s three largest holdings. Abel described Alphabet as a “significant player” in artificial intelligence.
Beyond Alphabet, Abel has also built positions in established companies like Delta Air Lines, suggesting the new CEO isn’t exclusively chasing tech momentum.
What changed, and why it matters
The private placement component of the Alphabet deal is worth highlighting separately. A $10 billion private placement isn’t something retail investors can replicate. It suggests Berkshire is leveraging its unique position—massive scale, long-term time horizon, and reputational credibility—to negotiate terms that aren’t available to the broader market.
Still, $39.4 billion in six months barely dents a nearly $400 billion cash position. Even at this pace, it would take years to fully deploy Berkshire’s reserves, assuming no new cash flows from operations, which of course there will be.