Berkshire Exits Amazon Completely, Boosts Alphabet as Greg Abel Charts New Course

Berkshire Hathaway's Q1 2026 portfolio filings revealed a deliberate reshuffling of its mega-cap technology holdings, with new Chief Executive Officer Greg Abel making his first major allocation decisions since assuming the role. Most notably, Berkshire exited its entire stake in Amazon, a holding that spanned years and had grown to tens of billions of dollars, while simultaneously boosting its position in Alphabet Inc. to record or near-record levels. The moves signal Abel's conviction that Alphabet's diversified exposure to artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, and advertising networks offers superior long-term returns compared to Amazon's consumer-facing dominance.

Berkshire also sold approximately 8 billion dollars worth of Chevron stock in Q1 after the oil major's share price reached record highs, a disciplined trim of a position that had ballooned in value. The combined effect was to shift Berkshire's profile: less exposure to energy cyclicality and consumer e-commerce volatility, more exposure to secular growth in AI and digital advertising. The moves come on the heels of Warren Buffett's departure from the CEO role and his delegation of portfolio decisions to Abel, suggesting that Buffett's years-long skepticism of tech valuations is giving way to a more pragmatic, valuation-agnostic tech allocation under new management.

Market reaction to the Berkshire filings was muted on May 15, though the news was noted by mega-cap tech watchers. Alphabet stock had already benefited from the broader AI narrative and held near all-time highs; the Berkshire boost did not materially move the stock intraday but provided a psychologically bullish signal that one of the world's most respected investors sees Alphabet as a core holding. Amazon, by contrast, had not participated as robustly in the prior week's AI-driven rally and faced a small headwind from the news that Berkshire was exiting entirely. The move is read by some as a subtle indictment of Amazon's e-commerce margin pressures and slower cloud profitability growth relative to Google Cloud.

The broader implication is that mega-cap tech positioning is now being reshaped not just by passive flows and earnings surprises but by active mega-investor conviction. If other large asset allocators follow Berkshire's lead and rotate from Amazon to Alphabet, the unwind could persist over months. Conversely, if Amazon's earnings accelerate or the company delivers a major strategic announcement (e.g., AI-driven logistics breakthrough), sentiment could reverse. For now, the Berkshire moves have set a tone that Alphabet and its diversified tech bets are preferable to Amazon's focused but narrower e-commerce and cloud exposure in a period of AI-driven uncertainty and rate volatility.