Warren Buffett's Successor, Greg Abel, Started His Tenure With a Bang by Slashing Berkshire's Chevron Stake and Making a Virtual Monopoly the New No. 5 Holding

Greg Abel opened his tenure as Berkshire Hathaway CEO with a sharp portfolio rebalancing in Q1 2025, cutting the conglomerate's Chevron stake by 35% while pushing Alphabet into the No. 5 slot among Berkshire's holdings. The moves mark Abel's first major departure from the investment strategy he inherited from Warren Buffett.

The Chevron reduction follows a rally in the energy stock that gave Abel an opportunity to book profits. Meanwhile, the Alphabet build reflects a bet on the tech giant's search dominance and artificial intelligence positioning. The Google parent now ranks as Berkshire's fifth-largest holding, a notable shift for a portfolio historically anchored in financials, energy, and consumer staples.

Abel's willingness to rotate aggressively out of energy and into big tech signals a potentially more active investment approach than Buffett's buy-and-hold style. Chevron had been a core holding, and the 35% trim represents one of the largest single-quarter reductions in a major position in recent years.