Overview
- Berkshire’s first-quarter 13F filing showed the company more than tripled its Alphabet position, elevating the stock into the group of Berkshire’s largest public equity holdings.
- Those buys were executed as of March 31 but disclosed in mid‑May, and an April AI‑led rally pushed Alphabet’s price well above the Q1 averages so Berkshire’s cost basis is lower than current market levels.
- Alphabet reported strong first-quarter results with overall revenue up about 22% year over year and Google Cloud revenue rising roughly 63%, supported by investments in cloud infrastructure and sales of an in‑house AI chip.
- Some analysts warn the stock now trades at a rich multiple of operating cash flow—about 27 times—prompting caution about adding shares until AI revenue gains are proven to be durable.
- The Alphabet purchase forms part of a broader Berkshire portfolio reset that included exits of roughly 16 holdings, new stakes such as Delta, a near‑record cash balance, and questions about who directed the trades under CEO Greg Abel after Todd Combs’s departure.