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just one week after Berkshire Hathaway’s revelation last Friday that it purchased 17.8 million Class A shares of Google’s parent,Alphabet,in the third quarter (July-September),that position has increased in market value by $415 million to almost $5.35 billion.
GOOGL gained 8.4% this week while its biggest tech rivals fell considerably as Nvidia’s strong earnings failed to overcome fears of an “AI bubble.”
Berkshire’s Alphabet Buy Doesn’t Sound Like Buffett, Columnist Says
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Berkshire Hathaway’s recent $2.8 billion stake in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is raising eyebrows, wiht some observers suggesting the investment doesn’t align with Warren Buffett’s traditional investment beliefs.
The purchase, disclosed in a regulatory filing this week, marks a significant shift for Buffett, who famously avoided tech stocks for decades. While Berkshire has dipped its toes into the tech world with investments in Apple – now its largest holding, with a $178 billion stake – Alphabet represents a different kind of bet.
“This is a vrey different approach than Berkshire’s shareholders are used to – notably,a new willingness to pay more now for potentially higher growth down the road,a chance Buffett rarely took,if ever,” Bloomberg Opinion columnist Nir Kaissar wrote Thursday.
Buffett has long emphasized investing in businesses he understands, a principle that kept him on the sidelines during the dot-com boom. Kaissar points out that Buffett has described artificial intelligence,the driving force behind much of Alphabet’s current valuation,as “orders of magnitude more complicated than selling books or pet food online.”
The Alphabet stake, now worth $2.2 billion.
(even before that position was first disclosed in 2019, Buffett went out of his way to tell CNBC’s Becky Swift it wasn’t his decision and “no personality change has taken place.”)
Warren Buffett and Greg Abel walkthrough the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.
David A.Grogen | CNBC
Kaissar recalls Buffett’s famous refusal to invest in a business he doesn’t fully understand, which kept him out of the internet bubble in the late 1990s. he adds, “Combine opaque technology with premium valuations, and you’re sure to lose Buffett.”
Berkshire has not responded to a request for clarification on who decided to make the Alphabet purchase. The company almost never reveals who bought what.
BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE
buffett on what ‘understanding’ a business means (2000)
Warren Buffett explains that when he says he doesn’t understand tech stocks, he means he doesn’t understand where the tech industry will be in ten years.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Q3 2023: A Deep Dive into the Numbers
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A/BRK.B) continues to be a bellwether for the broader market, and its latest earnings report offers a fascinating glimpse into Warren Buffett’s investment strategy and the company’s overall financial health. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the key takeaways from Q3 2023.
Key Financial Highlights:
* Stock Prices: BRK.A currently trades at $755,320.00,while BRK.B is priced at $504.04.
* Price-to-Earnings Ratio: BRK.B’s trailing twelve-month (TTM) P/E ratio stands at 16.12.
* Market Capitalization: Berkshire Hathaway boasts a significant market capitalization of $1,085,818,736,612.
* Cash Position: As of September 30, Berkshire’s cash reserves totaled $381.7 billion, representing a 10.9% increase from June 30.
* Adjusted Cash: Excluding cash held by the railroad businesses and subtracting T-Bills payable, the adjusted cash position is $354.3 billion,up 4.3% from the previous quarter.
* Share Repurchases: Notably, Berkshire has not engaged in any stock repurchases since May 2024.
(All figures are current as of the date of publication, unless or else specified.)
BERKSHIRE’S TOP EQUITY HOLDINGS – Nov. 21, 2025
(Image of Berkshire’s Top Equity holdings – Nov. 21, 2025 would be inserted here)