Berkshire Hathaway Exits Amazon, Boosts Alphabet Under New CEO Abel

Warren Buffett's successor at Berkshire Hathaway, Greg Abel, wasted no time reshaping the conglomerate's equity portfolio in his first quarter as CEO. Regulatory filings revealed that Berkshire exited its entire Amazon position in Q1 2026 (having trimmed it in recent quarters) while simultaneously boosting holdings in Alphabet. This dual move is significant because it reverses Buffett's two-decade thesis that Amazon's ecosystem resilience and capital efficiency made it a core holding, and signals that Abel sees more attractive opportunities in AI infrastructure via Google's advertising and cloud franchises.

The Amazon exit is particularly notable given Buffett's historical commentary praising CEO Andy Jassy and the company's competitive moatA sustainable competitive advantage that protects long-term returns on capital.. Berkshire had held Amazon for years as a conviction bet on e-commerce disruption and retail dominance. But Abel's logic appears to be that Amazon's capex intensity (data centers, infrastructure) and margin compression in cloud (AWS) make it less attractive than Alphabet, which benefits from AI search monetization and cloud infrastructure without the same capex drag. The Alphabet boost also coincides with Berkshire's sale of $8 billion in Chevron shares, a signal that Abel is redeploying capital from traditional energy into tech and artificial intelligence.

This shift carries symbolic weight for the broader market. Berkshire Hathaway is the largest publicly traded investment manager globally, with $800+ billion in equity holdings. When the new leadership team rotates out of Amazon and into Alphabet, it signals conviction that AI-driven valuations for the Magnificent Seven remain justified and that e-commerce growth (dependent on consumer spending) is facing structural headwinds. The move also implies that Abel sees better risk-reward in software/cloud/advertising than in hardware/logistics. Berkshire's Alphabet boost was paired with a modest increase in Microsoft holdings (per Ackman's positioning, which also lifted MSFT in Q1), further reinforcing the AI infrastructure narrative.

Sceptics note that Buffett himself stepped back from day-to-day management long ago, so this shift may not be as philosophically dramatic as it appears. Berkshire's investment team (including Todd Combs and Ted Weschler) likely influenced these decisions as much as Abel. Moreover, the Amazon exit could simply reflect valuation discipline: Amazon has rallied significantly since the AI boom began, and taking profits after strong performance is orthodox value investingBuying assets trading below their intrinsic value.. The real test will be whether Berkshire continues to trim mega-cap tech or begins rebalancing if valuations compress further on macro headwinds.