Step Aside, Coca-Cola and Bank of America: There's a New Apple of Berkshire Hathaway's Eye, and It's a Virtual Monopoly

Berkshire Hathaway's new CEO Greg Abel has repositioned the company's $359 billion equity portfolio, buying $17 billion in Alphabet stock and elevating the tech giant to the No. 3 holding, ahead of longtime core positions Coca-Cola and Bank of America. The shift marks a strategic departure under Abel, who took the helm following Warren Buffett's retirement.

Abel has zeroed in on Alphabet's search dominance and its Google Cloud division, which posted 82% revenue growth in Q2. The AI-powered cloud segment has emerged as a key growth driver, complementing Alphabet's market-leading search business. The $17 billion stake signals conviction in both the company's virtual monopoly in search and its ability to monetize artificial intelligence infrastructure at scale.

The reallocation bumps KO and BAC—pillars of Berkshire's portfolio for decades—down the rankings, reflecting a tilt toward technology and cloud computing under new leadership. Alphabet's dual-class structure (GOOG, GOOGL) gives Berkshire exposure to both voting and non-voting shares.