Overview
- Berkshire more than tripled its Alphabet position this year and added roughly $17 billion in Q2 to reach about 106 million shares, making Alphabet the conglomerate’s third-largest public holding.
- CEO Greg Abel said the investment is an AI-driven bet and that Berkshire earlier took a $10 billion private placement in Alphabet at about a 6.5% discount.
- Abel called the rising power needs of AI data centers a major growth opportunity for Berkshire Hathaway Energy and noted data centers accounted for roughly 8% of BHE’s Iowa load last year.
- Berkshire has pushed its Japan strategy further by issuing yen debt that now tops about 1.5 trillion yen and holding stakes above 10% in five trading houses, with Abel saying higher Japanese yields are not a fundamental problem now.
- The company has shifted from hoarding cash to active deployment—about $39 billion of stock buys in six months—while trimming Bank of America (30,230,150 shares sold in Q2) and facing risks from greater portfolio concentration, rising yields, and local pushback on data centers.