Berkshire triples Google stake to 58M

Berkshire Hathaway’s latest regulatory filing shows how sharply the company’s public-stock portfolio shifted in Greg Abel’s first quarter as chief executive. A Form 13F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on May 15 showed Berkshire owned 54.25 million Class A shares of Alphabet and 3.59 million Class C shares as of March 31, a combined 57.84 million shares. The same filing put Berkshire’s U.S. equity portfolio at about $263.1 billion, with the Alphabet position valued at roughly $16.6 billion. Warren Buffett remains Berkshire’s chairman, while Abel became chief executive on Jan. 1, 2026. The filing does confirm a large increase in Alphabet. It does not support a claim that Alphabet made up 29% of Berkshire’s public-equity portfolio. Based on the March 31 values in the filing, Alphabet accounted for about 6.3% of Berkshire’s disclosed U.S. stock portfolio. ### Where does the 58 million-share figure come from? The SEC filing breaks Berkshire’s Alphabet stake into two lines. Berkshire reported 54,249,798 shares of Alphabet Class A stock, ticker GOOGL, valued at about $15.6 billion, and 3,585,215 shares of Alphabet Class C stock, ticker GOOG, valued at about $1.03 billion. Added together, those positions come to 57,835,013 shares. The prior Berkshire 13F, filed on Feb. 17 for holdings as of Dec. 31, 2025, showed a much smaller Alphabet position. News reports citing that earlier filing said Berkshire held about 17.8 million Alphabet shares at year-end, meaning the March 31 total was more than triple the prior quarter’s level. (13f.info) ### Did Greg Abel make this trade? Berkshire’s filing does not assign individual trades to Abel, Buffett or portfolio manager Ted Weschler. CNBC reported the increase was “almost certainly” an Abel move, while adding that it could have been endorsed or suggested by Buffett. Berkshire itself generally does not identify which executive is responsible for specific public-stock positions. (sec.gov) Berkshire’s own disclosures do establish the management timeline. The company said on May 4, 2025 that Abel would become president and chief executive effective Jan. 1, 2026, with Buffett remaining chairman. Berkshire’s 2026 proxy statement repeats that Abel became chief executive on Jan. 1. ### How big is Alphabet inside Berkshire’s portfolio? (cnbc.com) Berkshire’s March 31 13F listed total holdings of $263.095 billion. The two Alphabet lines summed to about $16.63 billion, which works out to roughly 6.3% of the disclosed portfolio, not 29%. Berkshire’s largest reported holdings remained Apple at about $57.8 billion, American Express at about $45.9 billion and Coca-Cola at about $30.4 billion. (berkshirehathaway.com) CNBC described Alphabet as Berkshire’s seventh-largest equity holding at the end of the first quarter. That ranking fits the values shown in the filing, which place Alphabet behind Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum. ### What else changed in the filing? (13f.info) Berkshire’s first-quarter filing showed broad turnover beyond Alphabet. CNBC reported Berkshire added new positions in Delta Air Lines and Macy’s and eliminated or exited a long list of holdings, including Visa, Mastercard, UnitedHealth Group and Amazon. Yahoo Finance and CNBC both described the quarter as one of Berkshire’s busiest recent portfolio reshuffles. (cnbc.com) CNBC also reported that Chevron was the largest reduction by market value, while Apple was unchanged and Bank of America was trimmed by less than 1%. ### What can investors actually infer from a 13F? (cnbc.com) A Form 13F is a backward-looking snapshot of U.S.-listed equity holdings at quarter-end. The SEC filing for Berkshire was dated May 15 but reflected positions held on March 31, which means Berkshire could have changed the stake after that date without the public knowing yet. (cnbc.com) The next required update will be Berkshire’s second-quarter 13F, due to the SEC by mid-August 2026. That filing will show whether the Alphabet position was maintained, increased or reduced after March 31. (sec.gov) (13f.info)