Following Warren Buffett’s Dec. 31 retirement, Greg Abel has completely overhauled Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio.
Abel has made tech stocks and artificial intelligence (AI) a core aspect of Berkshire’s $363 billion investment portfolio.
Buffett’s successor is piling another $330 million into a unique tech- and AI-focused acquisition company.
This has been a year of historic change for the trillion-dollar conglomerate that Warren Buffett built. Following the Oracle of Omaha's retirement as Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE:BRKA)(NYSE:BRKB) CEO on Dec. 31, the oversight of the company's day-to-day operations and its $363 billion portfolio passed to Greg Abel.
It took Buffett's understudy just one quarter to really shake things up. When the dust cleared after March, Berkshire's new boss had sent 16 stocks to the chopping block and pared down six others. Perhaps even more eye-opening, Abel put tech stocks on the menu. Following aggressive purchases of Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG) in the first half of the year, Warren Buffett's successor has now turned his attention to tech-driven acquisition platform Bending Spoons (NASDAQ:BSP).
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The oversight of Berkshire's $363 billion portfolio passed to Greg Abel after Warren Buffett's Dec. 31 retirement. Image source: Getty Images.
During the Oracle of Omaha's more than half-century as CEO, arguably no company became more of a pillar for Berkshire's investment portfolio than Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Just three years ago, it accounted for nearly 45% of Berkshire's invested assets.
However, Buffett was never particularly adept at investing in tech stocks. His attraction to Apple had less to do with its tech innovations and everything to do with its customers' loyalty and willingness to pay hefty premiums for Apple's physical devices (iPhone, Mac, and iPad).
It took just a few months for Alphabet to become for Abel what Apple was for Warren Buffett.
While Berkshire's current and former bosses appreciate Alphabet's virtual monopoly -- Google accounted for approximately 90% of global internet search traffic in September -- it's the company's artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions that intrigue them.
Since Alphabet integrated generative AI and large language model solutions into the world's No. 3 cloud infrastructure services platform, Google Cloud, sales for this high-margin segment have gone parabolic.
Image source: Getty Images.
But it's not just Alphabet that has Abel's attention in the tech space.
According to an Oct. 14 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Berkshire is acquiring 10 million shares of Bending Spoons via private placement at $33 per share. This $330 million investment follows a $600 million investment at the company's initial public offering in July.
Bending Spoons' business strategy in some ways mirrors Berkshire Hathaway, but with a tech and AI twist. Berkshire's market cap grew to $1 trillion by acquiring roughly five dozen companies and buying pieces of others, which are typically held for long periods.
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INVESTS ANOTHER $330 MILLION IN BENDING SPOONS, LIFTING ITS STAKE TO 4% The private placement of 10 million shares at $33 each follows Berkshire's $600 million investment at Bending Spoons' July IPO, per the company https://t.co/wkg8AzIh3N
— IPO Newsroom (@IPONewsroom_) October 14, 2026
Bending Spoons acquires tech-based platforms, using its software, AI, price hikes, layoffs, and other tools to make them more efficient and/or to enhance subscription sales. Thus far, this Italian-based acquisition engine has purchased AOL, Vimeo, Brightcove, Eventbrite, and WeTransfer, among other brands.
The lure of Bending Spoons is that its tech-driven, AI-first approach can minimize costs, boosting margins and profits with reasonably little effort. Furthermore, emphasizing subscriptions should lead to predictable, high-margin sales.
Bending Spoons is already profitable and sporting an exceptionally fast growth rate. With Berkshire Hathaway's new boss as one of its biggest supporters, the sky's the limit.
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Sean Williams has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.