Billionaires don’t appear to have much of a herding instinct. At least, that’s the conclusion you’d probably reach if you compared their investment portfolios. The variety in the stocks preferred by highly wealthy investors is striking.
However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any common denominators in their portfolios. Several of the world’s richest investors are fans of some of the same stocks. Here are three stocks billionaires are buying right now.
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1. Amazon
Amazon (AMZN +0.01%) ranks as one of the most popular stocks with billionaires. Chase Coleman bought 4.1 million more shares of the e-commerce and cloud services giant in the second quarter of 2025, boosting his Tiger Global Management hedge fund’s stake by 62%. David Tepper increased his Appaloosa hedge fund’s position in Amazon by nearly 8%.
The biggest move with this stock in the billionaire community, though, came from Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman. He initiated a new position in Amazon that was valued at roughly $1.28 billion at the end of Q2.
Importantly, Amazon’s shares were down significantly during part of the second quarter. It’s a pretty safe bet that these wealthy investors wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to buy the stock of a great company at a discount.
That’s definitely the case with Ackman. Pershing Square’s chief investment officer, Ryan Israel, confirmed in a May conference call that Amazon had been on the hedge fund’s radar for a long time but that the team was waiting for the price to become attractive enough to buy. Israel highlighted Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and noted that the Trump administration’s tariffs shouldn’t significantly impact Amazon’s e-commerce business.
2. Alphabet
Ackman also increased Pershing Square’s stake in Google parent Alphabet (GOOG +0.02%) (GOOGL +0.02%) in Q2. His hedge fund already owned both of Google’s share classes. While Pershing Square didn’t buy any additional class C shares, it scooped up another 925,000 class A shares — enough to boost its holding by roughly 21%.
Coleman was less enthusiastic but still upped Tiger Global’s position in Alphabet class A shares by more than 3% in Q2. Billionaire Israel “Izzy” Englander was more interested in Alphabet class C shares last quarter, increasing his Millennium Management hedge fund’s stake by almost 32%.
Like Amazon, Alphabet’s stock fell sharply early in Q2. Ackman, Coleman, and Englander almost certainly liked the opportunity this sell-off presented to buy one of the top AI leaders. However, Tepper went in the opposite direction, slashing Appaloosa’s stake in Google’s parent company by around 25% in Q2.
3. UnitedHealth Group
Although Tepper seemed less bullish about Alphabet, the story was quite different with UnitedHealth Group (UNH +0.00%). He increased Appaloosa’s position in the health insurance stock by a whopping 1,300% in Q2. UnitedHealth Group is now his second-largest holding.
The bigger news, though, was that Warren Buffett initiated a big stake in UnitedHealth Group last quarter for Berkshire Hathaway‘s (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) portfolio. Buffett has been a net seller of stocks for 11 consecutive quarters. However, he saw enough to like about UnitedHealth to buy more than 5 million shares.
It’s reasonable to conclude that Buffett and Tepper viewed UnitedHealth Group’s steep plunge this year as overdone. The company has faced several challenges that weighed on its share price, including higher-than-expected Medicare Advantage plan costs and a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation.
Are these stocks good picks for other investors?
Several billionaires like Amazon, Alphabet, and UnitedHealth Group, but are these stocks good picks for investors who aren’t quite so wealthy? Yes, yes, and yes.
Amazon should have tremendous growth opportunities with AWS, especially, thanks to a strong AI tailwind. AI demand will also help Alphabet’s Google Cloud unit. Both Amazon and Alphabet also have plenty of other growth drivers.
UnitedHealth Group seems likely to return to growth next year as higher health insurance premiums take effect. Granted, it’s too early to know how the DOJ investigation will unfold. However, the company has successfully navigated government probes in the past and could do so again.
