Berkshire Hathaway Quietly Built a $37.4 Billion Stake in Alphabet, Making It the Portfolio’s Third-Largest Position
If you’ve been a longtime fan and follower of Berkshire Hathaway‘s (BRKA +0.39%) (BRKB +0.47%) former chief stock-picker Warren Buffett, then you know he’s steered clear of technology stocks, arguing they’re too difficult to understand.
That is, until somewhat recently. Berkshire took on a small (now-exited) position in Amazon back in 2019, and of course, Apple has grown to become the conglomerate’s single-biggest equity holding since first stepping into it back in 2016. It’s not clear to what extent these were Buffett-directed trades, and to be fair, both companies are as much consumer-oriented as they are technology names, making their businesses at least somewhat easier to understand.
If there was any doubt that Warren Buffett has officially warmed up to tech stocks, though, it’s been wiped away this year by Berkshire’s entry into a sizable stake in Google parent Alphabet (GOOG -0.92%) (GOOGL -0.86%).
Big commitment
It wasn’t clear to what extent Warren Buffett had a hand in the matter when Berkshire first scooped up 17.8 million A shares of Alphabet in Q3 of 2025. By then, the Oracle of Omaha had already announced his then-impending retirement as CEO at the end of that same year, and seemed more interested in cleaning up some loose ends rather than adding new stocks to the company’s portfolio. Besides, it was only about a $5 billion stake at the time, suggesting perhaps that he’d merely allowed one of his lieutenants to take on a token position.
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That changed dramatically in the first quarter of this year, however, when Berkshire bought another 36.4 million A shares of Alphabet, and then 24.5 million in Q2. Paired with the 27.2 million C shares of Alphabet purchased this year, this $37.4 billion (combined) holding accounts for a little over 10% of Berkshire Hathaway’s $358 billion stock portfolio, making it the conglomerate’s third-biggest holding.
The kicker: This was largely Buffett’s idea after all. Although he still consults with current CEO Greg Abel on such matters, in an interview with CNBC this July, Warren Buffett plainly explained: “I initiated it.”
The sector itself isn’t exactly the stumbling block
This still doesn’t mean Berkshire is embracing all technology stocks. As Buffett said in the very same interview, “I would say that I don’t like it as well as at least four or five other businesses that we own.”
It also doesn’t mean Buffett is still calling all the shots despite no longer being CEO or chairman of the board. He adds, “I am not doing anything that he [current CEO Greg Abel] doesn’t approve of. He’s not doing anything I don’t approve of. We talk all the time, but he is the decider.”
Image source: Getty Images.
Rather, it’s a recognition that at least two major technology companies meet a very specific requirement Buffett looks for in all of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings — that is, “businesses that are going to earn high returns on capital for an extended period of time.”
And that’s a simple criterion more investors might want to consider before buying any new stock, in or out of the technology sector. It certainly seems to be working for Berkshire, allowing the conglomerate to buy and hold names it arguably wouldn’t have at one point in its history.
