How Berkshire Hathaway's Portfolio Differs in the Post-Warren Buffett Era
Key Points
In a move that caught many by surprise, Berkshire sold off a handful of blue chip stocks.
Meanwhile, Alphabet has become one of the conglomerate's largest holdings.
Berkshire Hathaway's stock has vastly underperformed over the past few years.
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Warren Buffett was the head honcho at Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA)(NYSE: BRKB) for more than 60 years, and during that time, he turned it from a failing business into a trillion-dollar conglomerate. Buffett was known for his investing discipline and ability to find gems in the market, and tons of investors mirrored Berkshire's investment moves simply because Buffett had a hand in making them.
Now, Buffett has passed the keys to the new CEO, Greb Abel, and serves in a lesser role. There will inevitably be shades of Buffett lingering, but Abel and Berkshire have made moves that show the company is embracing a new era post-Buffett. And instead of telling us with words, they're showing us with actions.
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A slight shift in Berkshire's top holdings
Berkshire's top four holdings have been staples in its portfolio for quite some time, but the newest member of the top five, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL), is reshaping its core. Here are Berkshire's top five holdings:
| Company | Shares Owned | Percentage of Berkshire's Stock Portfolio |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | 227,917,808 | 20.2% |
| American Express | 151,610,700 | 15.3% |
| Coca-Cola | 400,000,000 | 9.5% |
| Bank of America | 513,624,165 | 8.6% |
| Alphabet | 57,835,013 | 7.5% |
Source: Berkshire Hathaway.
Although Berkshire began purchasing Alphabet shares last year, the extent of its stake increase has surprised many, as Berkshire has historically steered clear of high-growth tech stocks.
Some surprising names are no longer around
When Berkshire's most recent 13F filing got released, it showed its biggest portfolio turnover in quite some time. The conglomerate sold its entire stake in the following companies:
- Visa
- Mastercard
- Amazon
- UnitedHealth Group
- Domino's Pizza
- Aon
- Diageo
- Pool
Berkshire doesn't issue "we sold X because of X" statements, but there are hints as to why certain moves were made.
The dumping of Visa and Mastercard, for example, is reportedly due to the departure of former Berkshire manager Todd Combs, who left the company for JPMorgan Chase at the end of last year. Combs was known as the payments expert, so it may be a case of Berkshire cleaning house of the industry since the top person was no longer around.
Amazon was a bit of a surprise to me, given the growing stake in Alphabet, but the stock has underperformed in recent years, so Berkshire may feel the money is better off elsewhere. Berkshire had just bought a stake in UnitedHealth Group in mid-2025, so there weren't any long-standing ties with the company, unlike with others. There's still a lot of question marks surrounding UnitedHealth that Berkshire may not have wanted to wait out right now.
The remaining companies were much smaller parts of Berkshire's portfolio and may simply not fit the vision of where the company's investment philosophy is headed.
A different approach to investing
Buffett was known for his value investing and for backing "boring" companies with predictable business models, strong cash flow, and competitive moats.
Coca-Cola's business isn't exciting, but it has stood the test of time and continues to make billions. Banking isn't necessarily exciting, but Bank of America is permanently ingrained in the country's fabric. And Chevron (which Alphabet replaced in Berkshire's top five holdings) may not draw fireworks, but it's one of the most cash-flow-heavy companies around.
By no means are Abel and Berkshire abandoning these philosophies; they are just applying them in the digital age. Alphabet is routinely a top-10 revenue-generating public company in the world, and it operates a monopoly in its search business.
Berkshire has been sitting on an unprecedented cash pile for years (it was $397.4 billion at the end of Q1), so it's not in a hurry to invest just for the sake of it. But given that the company has considerably underperformed the market over the past few years, it makes sense that new leadership would want to shake things up a bit.
I wouldn't sell any Berkshire shares if you own them, but I also wouldn't buy any more right now until we see how the rest of the portfolio moves pan out.
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Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Stefon Walters has positions in Apple, Coca-Cola, and Visa. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, American Express, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Chevron, Domino's Pizza, JPMorgan Chase, Mastercard, Pool, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends Diageo Plc and UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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