Abel Takes the Reins at Berkshire Hathaway with Big Bets on Alphabet

Greg Abel has made his mark on Berkshire Hathaway since taking over as CEO in December. One of his first significant moves was purchasing $17 billion worth of Alphabet stock, making Google's parent company the conglomerate's No. 3 holding.

This is a notable shift from Warren Buffett's approach, who maintained a long-term position in Coca-Cola. Abel also greenlit a reduction in Berkshire Hathaway's stake in Bank of America, which had been dwindling for eight consecutive quarters.

The Alphabet purchase includes a $10 billion private placement and has already propelled the company into the top three slots. This is thanks to its dominant search engine traffic, holding between 89% and 93% of the global market share, as well as aggressive pushes into artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure.