Warren Buffett's Successor, Greg Abel, vs. Bill Ackman: 1 of these Billionaire Investors Just Piled Into Alphabet (Google), While the Other Nearly Dumped His Fund's Entire Stake

There aren't too many billionaire investors more closely followed right now than Greg Abel, Warren Buffett's chosen successor to run Berkshire Hathaway, and Bill Ackman, who runs Pershing Square Capital Management (PSCM).

Although both are very different in their investing styles, Abel worked under the tutelage of Buffett for many years, while Ackman, at times, has seemingly expressed an interest in making Pershing Square Holdings more like the large conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway.

In the first quarter of 2026, one of these billionaire investors piled into the "Magnificent Seven" company Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL), while the other nearly dumped his fund's entire stake in the company.

Image source: Alphabet.

Ackman: Swapping Alphabet for another Magnificent Seven stock

According to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ackman's fund sold 95% of its stake in both Alphabet Class A and Class C shares.

PSCM first purchased Alphabet in 2023, and the stock has performed incredibly well.

On the social media platform X, Ackman wrote that the sale of Alphabet was not due to bearish sentiment on the company. "We are very bullish long term on Alphabet. But at current valuations and in light of our finite capital base, we used $GOOG as a source of funds for $MSFT," he wrote.

GOOGL data by YCharts

As Ackman indicated, during the first quarter, PSCM took a position in Microsoft, valued at close to $2.1 billion. In the first quarter of the year, Microsoft's stock posted its worst performance since 2008, prompting many to see it as an opportune time to buy.

Ackman's move is not uncommon for a hedge fund, which typically trades on a shorter time horizon than retail investors because they're paid for active management with the goal of beating the market.

Early in 2025, many viewed Alphabet as the value stock in the Magnificent Seven. But the company has now had a big run, so Ackman and his team are moving their funds into Microsoft to take advantage of what they believe is a discounted valuation.

Alphabet still has many exciting businesses, including artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, autonomous driving, and content creation, so it's fine for investors to hold the stock long term. However, the near-term upside may be more limited.

Abel: Different times at Berkshire

Everyone was curious about what moves Abel would make in Berkshire's enormous stock portfolio in his first quarter as chief executive officer, and he gave the market plenty to digest.

In the first quarter, Berkshire sold tens of billions of dollars in stock and made some new bets. While the company already owned Alphabet, it more than tripled its Class A share position and initiated a Class C share position. Class A shares have voting rights, while Class C shares do not.

Berkshire's position in Alphabet Class A shares is now valued at more than $23 billion and accounts for 7% of Berkshire's portfolio, making it the company's fifth-largest holding.

It's a big move for Abel and Berkshire because it's really the company's first time going in heavy on an AI stock. Of course, Berkshire has owned Apple, its largest position, for a decade, but the company likely did not buy it for AI. Apple is not a hyperscaler investing hundreds of billions into AI infrastructure.

In fact, many see Apple as lacking a comprehensive AI strategy. Google is a major cloud player, and in its most recent earnings release, it raised its full-year capital expenditure estimate to between $180 billion and $190 billion.

Alphabet is also making custom chips for internal use and has begun selling them externally.

Berkshire tends to take a longer-term view than your typical hedge fund. The company also has a war chest of hundreds of billions in cash ready to deploy, so I can understand why Ackman and his team are selling and why Berkshire is buying. Both seem to have valid reasons.

It's a good example of how funds with different objectives and structures can both like a company but ultimately view it very differently from as an investment.

Bram Berkowitz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.