Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel is keeping plenty busy in his new job.
Two days after Berkshire announced a $6.8 billion acquisition of the major homebuilder Taylor Morrison Homes, the company is now plowing an additional $10 billion into Alphabet (GOOG 1.72%)(GOOGL 1.63%).
Berkshire had already significantly increased its position in Alphabet in the first quarter of 2026.
Berkshire’s purchase is part of an $80 billion share sale by Alphabet to raise proceeds that it will use for artificial intelligence-related capital expenditures.
Berkshire purchased $5 billion of Alphabet class A voting shares at an average cost of $351.81 per share and another $5 billion of class C shares at $348.20 per share.
Class A shares of Alphabet traded around $363 per share, as of this writing, while Class C shares traded around $360.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
A move that shares similarities and differences with Buffett
In many ways, it’s a bit odd to see Abel moving Berkshire so heavily into a stock like Alphabet, essentially a pure bet on AI.
Berkshire has spent the past five years more or less avoiding the AI trade. In fact, most actions, such as Berkshire’s nearly $400 billion in cash and equivalents, indicate that they believe the market is overvalued.
Buffett and Abel have previously said they don’t see much that is attractive in this highly valued market.
Yet Abel is now buying Alphabet near all-time highs, and as the company plans to spend tens of billions on AI infrastructure, which will significantly detract from free cash flow.
However, moving into Alphabet isn’t a complete departure from Buffett because Berkshire began buying the stock in 2025 when Buffett was still CEO. Buffett also remains chair of the large conglomerate’s board of directors and still reportedly goes into the office.
Additionally, Buffett has said in the past that when he and his team see something they really like, they tend to go all in and make large, concentrated bets.
Buffett did it with Apple, at one point making the stock comprise roughly 40% of Berkshire’s total equities portfolio.
Now, Abel appears to be headed in this direction with Alphabet. By my estimates, the total Alphabet position, including both share classes, is now valued at over $31 billion, making it the fourth-largest position in the portfolio.
What Abel may see in Alphabet
At first glance, the large investment in Alphabet seems like an odd move for Berkshire. But digging deeper, there are many aspects of the business I could see Abel and his team finding attractive.
Today’s Change
(-1.63%) $-6.12
Current Price
$370.25
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$4.6T
Day’s Range
$358.47 – $373.53
52wk Range
$162.00 – $408.61
Volume
952.3K
Avg Vol
28.3M
Gross Margin
60.43%
Dividend Yield
0.22%
Berkshire has always liked to buy businesses with strong moats and brands. Alphabet definitely fits this criteria, particularly with Google, which controls 90% of global search market share.
In fact, a federal judge ruled that Google operated as a monopoly in its digital advertising and search businesses. However, the judge stopped short of forcing Google to divest Chrome or other practices that have helped it obtain such strong market share.
This may have in part validated Berkshire’s thesis about Alphabet.
The company has also performed well in AI with its family of Gemini large language models (LLMs) that investors believe will help protect its share of the search market.
Alphabet also owns many other strong businesses, including YouTube, Waymo (an autonomous-driving business), and its own custom chip business, which it has begun selling externally.
Trading at around 25.8 times forward earnings, shares aren’t exactly cheap relative to Alphabet’s average multiple.
But they also don’t scream super expensive, either.
The stock will likely pull back if AI falters, but it has enough strong businesses to navigate difficult environments and bounce back long term.
