Berkshire Hathaway Just Did Something It Hasn’t Done in More Than 3 Years

Rich Duprey

Sat, August 8, 2026 at 7:27 PM GMT+3 5 min read

Quick Read

Abel snapped Berkshire's 14-quarter net-selling streak by deploying $20 billion more into equities than he sold and ramping buybacks to $4.5 billion in Q2 2026.
Alphabet surged 224% in Berkshire's portfolio in a single quarter to claim the 5th-largest spot, anchored by a $10 billion AI infrastructure investment.
Apple's portfolio share collapsed from over 50% at its peak to just 20%, while Bank of America was trimmed nearly in half since mid-2024.
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The stock market in 2026 has rewarded patience less than usual. The S&P 500 is up 13% on the year, and momentum names have led the charge while cash-heavy value investors sat on the sidelines wondering when the next fat pitch would arrive.

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A)(NYSE:BRK-B) has been the poster child for that patience -- building the largest cash pile in its history rather than chasing a market that Warren Buffett openly said he found too expensive. That patience just ended.

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The Cash Pile Finally Shrinks

Berkshire ended the first quarter of 2026 with $397.4 billion in cash and Treasury bills, a record and the culmination of a strategy Buffett began years earlier and Greg Abel continued after taking over as CEO on January 1. Between 2022 and 2024 alone, Berkshire sold a net $172.9 billion more in stocks than it bought. That selling didn't stop when Abel took the reins -- it accelerated into a streak of 14 consecutive quarters as a net seller of equities, one of the longest such stretches in Berkshire's history.

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This morning's second-quarter earnings release broke that streak. Berkshire's cash position fell to $365.5 billion, and for the first time in more than three years, Abel was a net buyer of stocks -- purchasing roughly $20 billion more in equities than he sold. Berkshire also stepped up share buybacks to $4.5 billion for the quarter, a sharp jump from the token $235 million spent in Q1.

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Greg Abel just ended Berkshire's 14-quarter selling streak. The $397 billion war chest is finally moving into a massive new growth bet. © 24/7 Wall St.

Apple's Shrinking Shadow, and a New Favorite Emerges

The portfolio shift shows up most clearly in what Berkshire owns. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) once accounted for more than half of Berkshire's equity portfolio at its peak. Today, Apple represents just 20% of the $355 billion portfolio -- still the largest position, but no longer the dominant one. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) tells a similar story in reverse gear. Buffett left the stock untouched for years after first buying it in 2011, watching it grow into his second-largest holding. Since the middle of 2024, Berkshire has cut the position nearly in half, offloading roughly 519 million shares. Bank of America now sits at $32.49 billion, or 9.1% of the portfolio -- Berkshire's fourth-largest position.

Holding

% of Portfolio

Rank

Apple

20.0%

1st

American Express (NYSE:AXP)

14.9%

2nd

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO)

9.8%

3rd

Bank of America

9.1%

4th

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)

8.8%

5th

Alphabet is the newest name on that list, and it didn't get there by accident. Berkshire revealed a $10 billion investment in Alphabet earlier this year, earmarked to help fund the company's AI infrastructure buildout, and it's fast becoming an Abel favorite. Berkshire's Alphabet stake grew 224% in Abel's first quarter alone, expanding from 17.8 million shares at the end of 2025 to nearly 58 million shares in Q1. Buffett has said he personally initiated the position, but Abel is the one who decided how far to run with it.

Key Takeaway

Granted, one quarter of net buying doesn't undo three years of net selling -- Berkshire still holds $365.5 billion in dry powder, plenty to fund another Alphabet-sized bet or absorb a real market pullback. That said, the signal here matters more than its size. Abel has shown he'll deploy capital when he sees value, and Alphabet's rise into the top five holdings -- alongside a stepped-up buyback pace -- suggests he's done waiting.

For shareholders, that's the clearest sign yet that Berkshire's multiyear defensive crouch is giving way to something more offensive. In the end, that's a reason for smart investors to keep paying attention to what Abel buys next.

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