BRK.B Turns Net Buyer in Q2 2026, Abel Deploys $20B

Berkshire Hathaway ended 14 consecutive quarters of net stock selling in Greg Abel's first full quarter as CEO, purchasing nearly $20 billion in equities led by a $10 billion Alphabet stake.

Berkshire bought $23.47B and sold $3.69B in equities in Q2 2026, a net deployment of $19.78B — the first net buying in 15 quarters.
A $10 billion private placement in Alphabet Class A and Class C shares pushed the total GOOGL/GOOG position to approximately $41 billion.
Cash reserves fell from a record $397.4B to $365.5B, as the company also repurchased $4.53B of its own shares, the most in five years.

Lead

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) reported second-quarter 2026 results on August 8, confirming that CEO Greg Abel broke the conglomerate's longest equity-selling streak on record in his first full quarter at the helm. The Omaha-based holding company purchased $23.47 billion in equities against $3.69 billion in sales — a net inflow of $19.78 billion — marking the company's return as a net stock buyer for the first time since the third quarter of 2022. Net profit more than doubled year-over-year to $25.67 billion, while operating earnings rose to $12.98 billion from $11.16 billion.

What Happened

The buying streak broken stands as the clearest signal yet that Abel's debut as chief executive marks a deliberate departure from the capital-preservation posture that defined Warren Buffett's final years at the helm. Buffett spent 14 consecutive quarters as a net seller, allowing cash and Treasury holdings to swell to a record $397.4 billion by March 31, 2026. That reserve shrank by $31.9 billion in the second quarter to $365.5 billion, as Abel accelerated deployment across equities and buybacks.

The single largest transaction was a $10 billion private placement in Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) — $5 billion each in Class A and Class C shares — executed in June 2026. Combined with shares already held, the total Alphabet stake reached approximately $41 billion and 86.4 million shares, vaulting the position into the top five of Berkshire's equity portfolio and cementing it as the conglomerate's largest technology holding after Apple (AAPL).

Market Reaction

Berkshire's results landed after U.S. equity markets closed Friday. The scale of the Alphabet investment drew the most immediate attention, given that Berkshire's historical reluctance to hold technology companies at scale was a cornerstone of Buffett-era capital allocation. Alphabet's shares have risen roughly 25% in 2026, trading above $200, underscoring the size of unrealized gains embedded in the new position.

BRK.B shares have outperformed the S&P 500 year-to-date, supported by strong operating performance across insurance, railroad, energy, and manufacturing subsidiaries.

Strategic Context

The H1 2026 figures underscore how abruptly the capital-allocation posture shifted. Purchases for the first half totalled $39.4 billion against $7.1 billion in the same period a year earlier — a 448% increase — while sales of $27.78 billion compared with $11.6 billion in H1 2025. The net H1 2026 buying of approximately $11.6 billion compares with consistent net selling throughout 2024 and 2025.

Abel also returned $4.53 billion to shareholders through buybacks in the quarter, the highest quarterly repurchase total in five years, signalling confidence in Berkshire's intrinsic value even as the stock trades near all-time highs.

Among partial reductions, Berkshire trimmed its Apple stake by 20 million shares, leaving a position valued at $57.45 billion — still the largest single equity holding — and sold 26.3 million shares of Bank of America (BAC), reducing that position to $28.64 billion. Those sales partially funded the more aggressive deployment into Alphabet and other new positions identified in the quarterly 13F filing.

AI and Technology Angle

The Alphabet investment carries particular strategic weight given the competitive dynamics reshaping the technology sector. Alphabet is spending more than $75 billion in annual capital expenditure to expand AI infrastructure, cloud computing capacity, and search capabilities, positioning its platforms across enterprise software, advertising, and consumer AI products. Berkshire's entry via a private placement — rather than open-market purchases — suggests a negotiated arrangement that may carry terms beyond a standard equity stake, though no additional conditions were disclosed in regulatory filings.

For Berkshire, whose equity portfolio had long avoided concentrated bets on pure-play technology, the move represents an explicit endorsement of Alphabet's long-term earnings power at a moment when AI-driven revenue growth is accelerating across its cloud and search businesses.

Outlook

Berkshire's Q2 2026 results confirm that Greg Abel is willing to deploy capital at scale and speed that Buffett had not matched since before the pandemic. With $365.5 billion in cash still on hand and operating earnings on a rising trajectory, the structural capacity to continue purchasing equities, acquiring businesses, or conducting buybacks remains substantial. The Alphabet stake and the end of the net-selling era will set the interpretive frame for Abel's capital-allocation record going forward, with markets watching whether the pace of deployment continues in the back half of 2026.

Mentioned tickers: BRK.A, BRK.B, GOOGL, GOOG, AAPL, BAC, AXP, KO