Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel Deploys Billions from Cash Reserve

Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway's new chief executive, used billions of the conglomerate's cash to buy a stake in Alphabet and repurchase Berkshire shares.

Berkshire Hathaway reported that under CEO Greg Abel, the firm allocated $10 billion to acquire shares of Alphabet and repurchased about $4.5 billion of its own stock, shrinking its cash hoard to $365.5 billion from close to $400 billion in March. The filing also revealed a $24 billion increase in holdings of commercial, industrial and other equities, though the specific companies will be identified in a subsequent filing.

Abel, who took over from Warren Buffett after the latter retired, had announced a restart of share buybacks in March, and the recent repurchases signal a more aggressive approach than the modest $234 million bought in the first quarter. The company previously bought back $78 billion of its stock between 2018 and 2024 and completed a $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison, which closed after the quarter. Berkshire's net profit more than doubled to $25.667 billion, while operating earnings rose to $12.983 billion.