Berkshire Starts Spending: $10B Alphabet Bet, $4.5B Buyback in Q2

Berkshire Hathaway finally started putting its record cash pile to work. In Q2, the conglomerate added roughly $10 billion to its Alphabet stake, repurchased $4.5 billion of its own stock, and ended 14 straight quarters as a net seller of equities.

Cash pile finally moves

Berkshire’s cash pile fell to $365.5 billion at the end of June, down from a record $397.4 billion at the end of March. Still enormous, but it is the first meaningful drawdown in years.

Berkshire Hathaway bought $23.47 billion of equities and sold just $3.69 billion in Q2 2026, ending 14 consecutive quarters as a net seller. A $10 billion Alphabet deal explains nearly 43% of those purchases.

The Alphabet trade

Berkshire bought $10 billion of Alphabet common stock in a private placement priced more than 6% below the market, a structure that hands Berkshire a built-in discount for providing size and speed.

Reported estimates put the combined stake near $31 billion to $41 billion depending on the date, making Alphabet a top-five holding alongside Apple, American Express, Bank of America and Coca-Cola. The full 13F is due next week.

Buybacks are back

The company repurchased $4.5 billion of its own stock in Q2, a sharp jump from just $235 million in Q1. Most of those buybacks happened in June.

Berkshire repurchased $4.5 billion of its own stock between April and June and over $3.3 billion more in July, accelerating repurchases it began in March following a nearly two-year hiatus.

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Earnings backdrop

Berkshire Hathaway posted a strong second quarter, with operating earnings climbing 16% to $12.98 billion, up from $11.16 billion a year earlier.

Segment mix was mostly a beat with one soft spot. Manufacturing, service and retailing earnings jumped 24% to $4.47 billion. Berkshire Hathaway Energy surged 27% to $891 million. BNSF railroad rose 6% to $1.56 billion. Underwriting earnings fell 13% to $1.73 billion, and insurance investment income dropped 9% to $3.06 billion.

Why it matters

Neither decision requires a bullish view on the S&P 500 or U.S. stocks broadly. Berkshire found particular assets it considered worth owning at the prices available. The policy remains the same: the company’s standard is that it only repurchases shares when Abel and Buffett believes they are selling for less than they are worth. They do not plan to spend a specific amount like many companies do.

They may not be buying much now as the stock just hit a new 52-week high on Thursday.

Options market and stocks to watch

Watch BRK.B for how the market prices the buyback signal versus the fresh 52-week high, which historically slows Berkshire’s own repurchase pace.

Watch GOOGL and GOOG for flow tied to Alphabet’s newly elevated status as a Berkshire top-five holding, and any 13F-driven positioning next week.

Watch AAPL for any read-through on Berkshire’s largest position if the 13F shows further trimming or additions. Also keep an eye on other news around Berkshire’s capital deployment under Greg Abel.

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