Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway made a massive play for tech dominance in the second quarter, pouring an additional 17 billion dollars into Alphabet. The move was split between two different strategies, with roughly 10 billion dollars coming from a private placement deal conducted directly with the Google parent company and another 7 billion dollars acquired through open market purchases. This aggressive expansion marks Alphabet as the standout addition to the portfolio for the period, signaling a strong conviction in the search giant’s long term value.
While tech grabbed the headlines, Berkshire also showed renewed interest in the skies by boosting its stake in Delta Air Lines by about 1.6 billion dollars. This return to aviation comes after a rocky history with airline stocks, including losses sustained during the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Other notable activity included increased positions in homebuilders like Lennar and retailer Macy’s, though these moves were smaller in scale compared to the Alphabet windfall.
Conversely, Buffett continued to distance himself from several financial institutions. The conglomerate significantly trimmed its holdings in Capital One and Ally Financial, while reducing its Bank of America stake by nearly 6 percent. Because of the sheer size of the Bank of America position, this represented a valuation drop of approximately 1.7 billion dollars, continuing a multi quarter trend of scaling back exposure to major banks.
However, not everyone is celebrating these strategic shifts. Michael Burry, the investor famous for predicting the 2008 housing crash, expressed concern that Berkshire is losing its signature patience. Burry suggested that current leadership may be moving away from Buffett’s legendary discipline of waiting for a perfect opportunity—what Buffett calls a fat pitch—to deploy capital. While Berkshire still sits on a staggering cash mountain of roughly 360 billion dollars, some Wall Street investors shared Burry’s skepticism, leading to a slight dip in share prices following the announcement of these quarterly spends.
