Berkshire Hathaway Spends Cash on AI-Focused Alphabet

Berkshire Hathaway spent three years hoarding cash and has now started spending. In the second quarter of this year, the conglomerate was a net buyer of stocks for the first time in 14 quarters.

The single biggest reason for Berkshire's buying spree was Alphabet: it added about $17 billion to its portfolio, vaulting it into the three largest holdings in a portfolio long defined by Apple, American Express, and Coca-Cola.

This is the first full quarter under CEO Greg Abel, and his opening move is a large growth-tech position in a company Wall Street had been punishing for its AI spending. The stock reaction was cool: both share classes fell more than 3% on the week even though the quarter included Berkshire's first meaningful buybacks in two years.

Berkshire bought about $23.5 billion of stocks in the quarter while selling roughly $3.7 billion, according to the SEC filing, ending 14 consecutive quarters in which it had been a net seller of equities.