Legendary investor Warren Buffett is no longer the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK)(NYSE:BRK), but he likely had input or was behind the investments the conglomerate made in 2025. That includes a stake in Magnificent Seven stock Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), a position that was unveiled after the third quarter.
Berkshire Hathaway Sitting on Alphabet Stock Gains
Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway unveiled a 17,846,142 share stake in Alphabet in a 13F for the third quarter, making the stock one of the top 10 holdings for the investment portfolio.
In the fourth quarter, the position remained the same share size, but came in worth more thanks to gains for the stock.
The stake in Alphabet is worth $5,388,107,192.64 today based on a share price of $301.92.
Alphabet shares traded in a range of $172.77 to $256.00 during the third quarter.
This means that the Berkshire stake has gained anywhere from $819.49 million to $2.30 billion, depending on the timing and pricing of the purchase.
Berkshire New CEO Prioritizes Other Stocks
With Buffett stepping down at the end of 2025, Greg Abel is the new CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. In his first Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, Abel emphasized several investments owned by the conglomerate.
Abel named Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), American Express (NYSE:AXP), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), and Moody's (NYSE:MCO) as "businesses we understand well, have a high regard for their leaders, and expect will compound over decades."
The four stocks were singled out as those that will likely be long-term holdings with "limited activity" in the position size.
Abel's letter also highlighted several Japanese stocks in which the company has invested.
Also found in the letter was criticism of Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), two stocks that have underperformed the company's expectations.
Alphabet was nowhere to be found in Abel's first annual shareholder letter, despite the stock’s strong performance in 2025 and the large gains it has made for Berkshire Hathaway.
The Magnificent Seven stock was up 65.2% in 2025, the top performer of the group. These gains outpaced the 11.5% gains for Berkshire Hathaway and the 16.6% gains for the S&P 500.
With the 13Fs for 2025 behind the company, the upcoming 13Fs will be more Abel’s than Buffett’s and could quickly identify which stocks will be sold off or changed in size.
Alphabet is one of the most recent big technology bets made by Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett, for years, was a noted critic of tech stocks and high-growth companies that traded with high multiples.
Some experts believed that the Alphabet stock buy and some other recent purchases may have been made by other management members and not by Buffett.
With Abel not putting his stamp on Alphabet, the question now remains who was behind the purchase and what happens going forward. Investors will get the Berkshire Hathaway 13F for the first quarter around May 15, which could be updated if the Alphabet position changed since Abel took over.
Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock.com
