Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) Successor Greg Abel Boosts AI Stock Stake

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares traded at 367.03 dollars on July 8, 2026, up a modest 0.08% on the day, as new details emerged about Berkshire Hathaway's outsized bet on the Google parent under incoming chief executive Greg Abel.

Abel's Rapid Portfolio Overhaul

Abel took the reins at Berkshire on January 1 and moved fast. In the first quarter, he exited 16 positions outright, cutting the conglomerate's holdings from 42 names to 29, according to the Q1 2026 13F HR filing submitted to the SEC on May 15. Rather than spreading fresh capital broadly, Abel funneled a disproportionate share into a single name: Alphabet.

Berkshire more than tripled its Class A stake during the quarter and opened a new Class C position, bringing the combined holding to nearly 58 million shares worth roughly 17 billion dollars by the end of March. Then, on June 1, Alphabet announced an 80 billion dollar equity raise to fund artificial intelligence infrastructure, and Berkshire anchored the deal with a 10 billion dollar private placement, split evenly between Class A shares at 351.81 dollars and Class C shares at 348.20 dollars, a discount of roughly 6.5% to that day's closing price. Combined with open market purchases, Berkshire's total Alphabet exposure now tops 29 billion dollars, ranking among its five largest holdings alongside Apple, American Express, Coca Cola and Bank of America, and pushing Chevron out of the top tier.

Alphabet Valuation, Momentum and Yield Under Abel's Bet

Alphabet's current price of 367.03 dollars sits well below its 52 week high of 408.61 dollars but comfortably above the 330.20 dollar low, placing the stock roughly in the middle of its annual range. At a 4.47 trillion dollar market cap, Alphabet trades at a trailing P/E of 33.64, a multiple that reflects continued confidence in its advertising core alongside heavy AI infrastructure spending funded partly through that 80 billion dollar raise. The dividend yield of 0.24% is nominal, underscoring that Berkshire's rationale here is not income generation but capital appreciation and strategic exposure to AI compute buildout.

An RSI reading of 54.45 places the stock in neutral territory, neither overbought nor oversold, suggesting the market has not yet fully priced in the implications of Berkshire's anchor investment. The bull case rests on Alphabet's scale advantages in search, cloud and AI research, reinforced by Berkshire's willingness to buy at a discount during a capital raise rather than in the open market. The bear case centers on execution risk tied to that AI infrastructure spend and whether returns on the new capital will match the elevated 33.64 P/E multiple already embedded in shares.

Selling Spree Ran in Parallel

Abel's Alphabet buildup coincided with some of the heaviest selling in Berkshire's recent history. He fully exited Domino's, Amazon, Visa, Mastercard, UnitedHealth Group and 11 other positions during the quarter. Several exits trace to the departure of portfolio manager Todd Combs, who left for JPMorgan; Abel told the Wall Street Journal in April that he unwound the positions Combs had managed. The Domino's exit is notable since Buffett built that 3.35 million share stake over six consecutive quarters with no prior indication it was temporary. Overall, Berkshire was a net seller of about 8 billion dollars in equities for the quarter, buying roughly 16 billion dollars while offloading approximately 24 billion dollars.