Berkshire Hathaway’s New CEO Reshuffles Stock Portfolio

After three months as Berkshire Hathaway’s newest CEO, Greg Abel has already made several major changes to the company’s stock portfolio.

Greg has more than tripled the size of Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Alphabet and bought more than US$2.6bn worth of Delta Airlines stock after taking over from Warren Buffett at the start of the year.

The conglomerate also removed several stocks, including Visa, Mastercard, Domino’s Pizza, Amazon and United Healthcare after the departure late last year of Todd Combs, who was one of the two investment managers Warren hired to help manage the portfolio.

While Greg has shown enthusiasm in tech companies like Alphabet, Warren famously was always reluctant to buy stock in the industry, saying he didn’t understand them enough to predict the long-term benefits.

However, he did make an exception to this rule after buying a US$1bn stake in Apple in 2016 after he saw how brand-loyal its customers were.

Major changes to Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio

Many of the stocks sold by Greg were brands previously handled by Todd, who moved to JPMorgan in early December 2025. 

While analysts have linked the departure of Todd to the specific portfolio changes, Berkshire Hathaway does not publicly attribute individual holdings to specific managers.

The biggest change to Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio is the company’s investment into Alphabet. Following its investment into the tech company, the holding now sits at approximately US$16.6bn making Alphabet Berkshire’s seventh largest equity holding.

Abel also returned Berkshire to the airline industry for the first time since Buffett famously dumped all airline stocks at a loss during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a 2007 letter to shareholders, Warren previously highlighted his concerns around airline investment, saying: “The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines.  

“Here a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers. Indeed, if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favour by shooting Orville down.”

Berkshire acquired 39.8 million shares of Delta Air Lines, valued at approximately US$2.8bn. Given Warren’s history with the industry, analysts predict this was a new decision made by Greg and not Warren.

Alternatively, shares in Chevron saw the largest reduction in the conglomerate’s portfolio.

The shares in the 35% cut were valued at more than US$8bn at the end of the first quarter. The remaining stake was worth more than US$17bn at the time.

The stock had risen in the first quarter as Berkshire was selling but has since dropped by 7.6% since the end of Q1. It is still up 25.4% year-to-date amid elevated oil prices due to the Iran war.

Berkshire also established a small new stake in Macy’s that was worth nearly US$55m at the end of March.

A successful stock picker

On 2 May, Greg led his first shareholders meeting as CEO while Warren sat close by with the board of directors.

Many investors have followed Berkshire’s portfolio closely over the years as they like to replicate Warren’s buying and selling decisions. 

However, this stock market behaviour could change if Greg doesn’t establish his record as a successful stock picker, a title that Warren became known for.

Greg has spent his career operating companies like Berkshire’s collection of major utilities.

While many shareholders are still getting used to the idea of a leadership change after Warren’s departure, Warren has previously praised Greg and assured naysayers of Greg’s abilities as a CEO.

Speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting event on 2 April, Warren said: “Greg is doing everything I did and then some, and he’s doing it better in all cases. He’s the right person.”