After Buffett stepped down, Berkshire Hathaway loudly launched the "Abel era" with a substantially adjusted quarterly holdings report.
The 13F document disclosed on Friday the 15th Eastern Time shows that in the first quarter of 2026, Berkshire made a major adjustment to its investment portfolio: on the one hand, it invested about $2.65 billion to build a position in Delta Airlines, which is the first time Berkshire has rebet on airline stocks since liquidating the four major U.S. airlines during the pandemic in 2020; on the other hand, it further increased its stake in Google’s parent company Alphabet while completely liquidating Amazon, Visa, Mastercard, and several consumer and fintech stocks.
Meanwhile, Berkshire reduced its stake in Chevron by about 45.78 million shares in the first quarter, cashing out approximately $8 billion at a volume-weighted average price of $182.59 according to Bloomberg data, dropping its holding percentage to 4.2%, but still remaining the fourth largest shareholder in Chevron. Chevron's stock reached an all-time high in March this year and later retreated, making this reduction occur at a high point.
Overall, Berkshire significantly increased the intensity of portfolio adjustments in the first quarter. According to media statistics, Berkshire purchased stocks worth about $16 billion that quarter and sold about $24 billion, reducing the number of stocks held from 42 to 29, indicating that the new management is concentrating on a more distinct rebalancing of the portfolio.
Q1 splurge of $2.6 billion to build a position in Delta Airlines
Among the data disclosed this Friday, the most noteworthy action in the market was undoubtedly Berkshire's re-entry into airline stocks.
The 13F document shows that Berkshire built a new position of approximately 39.8 million shares in Delta Airlines (DAL) in the first quarter, with these shares valued at nearly $2.65 billion, accounting for about 1% of Berkshire's holdings. From the perspective of holding value, Delta Airlines became Berkshire's 14th largest stake just after it was built.
This action is significant. When the pandemic hit the global airline industry in 2020, Buffett quickly liquidated the holdings of the four major U.S. airlines, including Delta, United, Southwest, and American Airlines, publicly stating that the airline business model had undergone fundamental changes.
Now, after a six-year hiatus, Berkshire has rebet on the airline industry, seen by the market as a signal of the management's renewed optimism regarding the prospects for U.S. consumer, business travel, and corporate earnings.
In addition to Delta, Berkshire also built a new position in Macy's and slightly increased its stake in Alphabet Class C shares.
Alphabet Class A holdings surged over 200%, rising to the seventh largest stake
In the technology sector, Berkshire continued to strengthen its bet on Google.
The document shows that in the first quarter, Berkshire increased its holdings of Alphabet (GOOGL) Class A shares by over 36.4 million shares, with the number of shares soaring approximately 204% compared to the end of the fourth quarter, and the holding value increasing to $15.6 billion, rising from the tenth to the seventh position among Berkshire's main holdings.
The market believes this indicates that Berkshire's recognition of the value of Google's core assets in the AI era is increasing. In recent years, Berkshire has maintained a cautious stance towards large tech companies, with the only significant tech stock being Apple. However, as the competition in generative AI escalates and Google increases its investment in AI infrastructure, its valuation and cash flow advantages have attracted Berkshire again.
Notably, Alphabet is also one of the few large tech companies that have seen continuous accumulation by Berkshire in recent quarters.
In contrast, Apple remains the top holding for Berkshire, although Berkshire has been selling Apple shares for three consecutive quarters since the second quarter of 2025, stopping only in the first quarter of this year. Data shows that as of the end of March, Apple accounted for about 22.6% of Berkshire's U.S. stock portfolio, still being an absolute core asset.
Liquidating Amazon, Visa, Mastercard, UnitedHealth, significant "portfolio slimming"
While increasing stakes in Google and airline stocks, Berkshire also performed a "decluttering" on several non-core assets.
The 13F shows that Berkshire has completely exited its Amazon holdings, while also liquidating Visa, Mastercard, UnitedHealth, Domino's Pizza, Pool Corp, Aon, and several other stocks.
Among these, the exit from Amazon is particularly noteworthy, marking the first time in nearly seven years that Berkshire no longer holds Amazon. In the fourth quarter of last year, Amazon was the stock with the largest reduction for Berkshire, with the number of shares held decreasing by over 77.2% to about 2.3 million shares quarter-on-quarter.
Berkshire first invested in Amazon in the second quarter of 2019. Buffett stated at the time that although he had always had a cautious attitude toward tech stocks, not buying this online retail giant's stock earlier was "foolish."
Amazon was regarded as one of the few e-commerce investment cases for Berkshire in recent years, but its position has always been small. Now that it has completely exited, the market interprets this as Berkshire beginning to further focus on "technology allocation", concentrating bets on giants like Apple and Google that have stronger platform moats and cash flow advantages.
In the financial sector, Berkshire continued to reduce some bank and payment assets:
- Berkshire reduced its holdings in Bank of America (BAC) by about 3.67 million shares, a decrease of about 0.7% quarter-on-quarter;
- the wine stock Constellation Brands (STZ) was reduced by nearly 12.37 million shares, plummeting about 95.1%.
However, long-term core positions like Coca-Cola and American Express remained largely stable.
Chevron cashes out about $8 billion at a high, still the fourth largest shareholder
In this holdings report, the reduction in Chevron was the largest single financial operation.
According to Bloomberg, Berkshire sold approximately 45.78 million shares of Chevron at a volume-weighted average price of $182.59, cashing out approximately $8 billion, with a reduction of about 35% in holdings, leaving a remaining shareholding ratio of 4.2%. After the reduction, Berkshire remains Chevron's fourth largest shareholder.
Bloomberg reported that Chevron's stock price reached an all-time high in March this year amid U.S.-Iran tensions and soaring oil prices. Berkshire initially bought Chevron in the $65 range in 2020, partially reducing its stake in 2021; then, around the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, it significantly increased its stake at an average price of $124. Based on the average price of this reduction at $182.59, it has already recorded about a 47% book gain compared to the cost of acquisition in 2022.
Top ten heavyweight stocks at the end of Q1: Apple still vastly leads
By the end of March 2026, Berkshire's top ten heavyweight stocks remained highly concentrated in Apple, financial, and consumer leaders; all are "familiar faces" from the fourth quarter, although their specific rankings have changed, with Alphabet rising three places, the biggest increase.
According to the 13F document, Berkshire's top ten heavyweight stocks in the first quarter are:
- Apple (AAPL)
- American Express (AXP)
- Coca-Cola (KO), rising from fourth to third
- Bank of America (BAC), falling from third to fourth
- Chevron (CVX)
- Occidental Petroleum (OXY), rising from seventh to sixth
- Alphabet (GOOGL), rising from tenth to seventh
- Chubb (CB)
- Moody's (MCO), falling from sixth to ninth
- Kraft Heinz (KHC), falling from ninth to tenth
Among these, the combined positions of Apple, American Express, and Bank of America still account for more than half of the entire stock portfolio.
However, compared to the Buffett era, the new management is showing a higher frequency of portfolio adjustment and a more apparent "proactive rotation" style.
The market's current focus is also shifting: with Buffett gradually stepping back, will Berkshire, led by the new CEO Greg Abel, shift from a "long-term extremely concentrated holding" model towards a more flexible investment style that is more aligned with industrial trends?
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