Alphabet shares jump after Berkshire discloses $4.93 billion stake
Investing.com -- Shares in Google parent Alphabet jumped more than 5% in premarket trade on Monday after Berkshire Hathaway revealed a new position in the tech giant, a move that comes as Warren Buffett approaches the end of his six-decade tenure at the conglomerate.
Buffett is set to step down as CEO at the end of 2025, with Greg Abel preparing to take over.
A regulatory filing late Friday showed Berkshire held 17.85 million Alphabet shares as of Sept. 30. As of the stock’s Friday close, the stake would be worth $4.93 billion.
Berkshire has long acknowledged missing out on Google’s early growth. At the company’s 2019 annual meeting, Buffett and the late Charlie Munger both said they regretted not buying into the business sooner.
The filing also confirmed a sizable reduction in Berkshire’s Apple position. The conglomerate cut its stake to 238.2 million shares from 280 million in the latest quarter, continuing a retreat that has seen it unload most of the more than 900 million shares it once owned. Still, Apple remained Berkshire’s largest equity holding at $60.7 billion.
Alphabet is now Berkshire’s tenth-largest U.S. stock investment, a notable addition given Buffett’s long-standing reluctance toward traditional tech names. He has often described Apple as more of a consumer products franchise than a pure technology company.
Between July and September, Berkshire bought $6.4 billion of stocks and sold $12.5 billion, extending its streak as a net seller for a twelfth consecutive quarter. Cash holdings rose to a record $381.7 billion. Apple likely accounted for the bulk of the divestments.
The filing also showed that Berkshire trimmed its Bank of America stake by 6%, adding to earlier reductions, though the lender remains its third-largest holding. The company exited its investment in homebuilder DR Horton, while increasing positions in firms including Chubb and Domino’s Pizza.
