Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway adds $17 billion to Alphabet stake, making Google its third-largest holding

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway made one of its most significant portfolio moves in years during the second quarter, adding roughly $17 billion to its stake in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, lifting the position to approximately $36.6 billion and cementing it as the third-largest holding in the conglomerate's equity portfolio.

According to Berkshire's second-quarter SEC filing, the company now owns close to 106 million shares across Alphabet's Class A and Class C categories. That ranks Alphabet above Coca-Cola, where Berkshire holds a $35.1 billion stake, but still well below American Express at $51.9 billion and the top holding, Apple, at $69.7 billion.

Berkshire added 48.1 million Alphabet shares during the quarter. Of those, approximately 60%, representing roughly $10 billion, were obtained directly from Alphabet through a private placement deal the two companies disclosed in early June. The remaining shares were acquired through open-market purchases.

The Alphabet build-up follows the company's $85 billion equity raise earlier this year, which Alphabet pursued to fund its artificial intelligence expansion. That offering helped push US equity issuance to a record $251 billion in the first half of 2026, according to Bloomberg data. Berkshire's decision to participate directly in that raise, and then to continue buying in the open market, signals a level of conviction in Alphabet's AI strategy that goes well beyond a passive index exposure.

Berkshire also made a substantial move in commercial aviation, expanding its Delta Air Lines stake by 44%, an outlay of roughly $1.6 billion, to reach 57.3 million shares now worth about $5.1 billion. The airline first returned to Berkshire's portfolio in the first quarter of this year. Buffett had sold Berkshire's entire airline holdings at a loss in early 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic collapsed air travel demand, a rare public admission of error. The return to the sector, and the scale of the Delta commitment, suggests Buffett views that earlier exit as a timing mistake rather than a structural judgment about aviation.

On a smaller scale, Berkshire lifted its Macy's holdings by 142%, though the modest base size means that translates to only about $100 million in new exposure. The conglomerate also put roughly $280 million more into homebuilder Lennar.

The selling was more targeted. Berkshire trimmed its Bank of America position by 5.9%, reducing the value of that holding by approximately $1.7 billion, the largest dollar cut of the quarter. The cumulative effect of that sustained selling, now spanning eight straight quarters, is a 53% reduction in Berkshire's overall Bank of America stake. The company also cut its Capital One Financial stake by 58% and trimmed its Ally Financial holdings by 7%.

Berkshire held approximately $365.5 billion in cash as of June 30, down 8% from March 31, suggesting the Alphabet and Delta moves absorbed a meaningful portion of the capital Buffett had been accumulating across prior quarters.

The portfolio reshaping reflects a Berkshire that is leaning into technology and transportation at a moment when both sectors are being reshaped by artificial intelligence and shifting travel patterns. For a conglomerate long associated with insurance, consumer brands and financial stocks, the $36.6 billion Alphabet position is a statement about where Buffett sees durable value being created over the next decade.