Published on: 2026-08-10
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, while Berkshire still finished June with $359.2 billion in cash and U.S. Treasury bills. The reversal points to more company-specific opportunities becoming attractive enough to buy, rather than a broad call that stocks are suddenly cheap.
Berkshire became a $19.77 billion net equity buyer in Q2, ending a 14-quarter run of net selling.
Alphabet’s $10 billion private placement accounts for 42.6% of Berkshire’s $23.47 billion of gross Q2 equity purchases.
Roughly $13.47 billion of other equity purchases remains after Alphabet, although known investments such as Tokio Marine account for part of that amount.
Berkshire also repurchased $4.53 billion of its own shares while keeping $359.2 billion of insurance-and-other cash, cash equivalents and Treasury bills at June 30.
Berkshire went from $8.15 billion of net equity selling in Q1 to $19.77 billion of net buying in Q2. That ended 14 consecutive quarters in which the company had sold more stocks than it purchased, a stretch lasting roughly three and a half years. The Q2 purchase and sale figures are derived from Berkshire’s first-half totals after deducting the amounts already reported for Q1.
The change is large enough to demand an explanation. Berkshire spent recent years building one of the largest pools of cash and Treasury bills in corporate America while waiting for investments that could absorb meaningful sums at acceptable prices.
Q2 finally produced enough buying to reverse that direction. The transactions already disclosed suggest the company found several specific opportunities rather than deciding that the entire stock market had become attractive.
Alphabet disclosed in June that a Berkshire affiliate agreed to invest $10 billion directly in the company through a private placement. Berkshire already owned both Alphabet Class A and Class C shares at March 31, so the deal substantially increased an existing position rather than introducing a new company to the portfolio.
By June 30, Alphabet had become one of Berkshire’s five largest equity holdings alongside American Express, Apple, Bank of America and Coca-Cola. Those five positions represented 66% of Berkshire’s $323.78 billion equity-securities portfolio.
The $10 billion deal represented 42.6% of Berkshire’s gross Q2 equity purchases, making Alphabet the clearest explanation for why buying accelerated so sharply during the quarter.
The nature of the transaction is equally useful. Berkshire was offered a large, negotiated investment in a business it already owned. That looks very different from spreading billions of dollars across the market simply because stock prices were expected to rise.
Alphabet leaves approximately $13.47 billion of Berkshire’s Q2 equity purchases to account for.
Some of that amount is already known. Berkshire subsidiary National Indemnity completed an investment in Japan’s Tokio Marine during the quarter as part of a strategic partnership that gave Berkshire an initial stake of about 2.5%.
Berkshire has not yet published a complete security-by-security breakdown covering the remainder. The $13.47 billion therefore should not be described as $13.47 billion of secret U.S. stock purchases. It includes other equity activity, and the full mix remains only partly visible.
That uncertainty has become the most interesting part of the quarter. Were most of those purchases concentrated in a few companies, or did Berkshire buy across a much wider group of stocks?
A handful of large additions would fit Berkshire’s established pattern. Its Q2 filing says the company has historically concentrated its equity investments in relatively few businesses. A broader set of purchases would provide stronger evidence that Berkshire is finding acceptable prices across more of the market.
Berkshire repurchased $4.53 billion of Berkshire shares during Q2, compared with just $235 million in Q1.
Under Berkshire’s repurchase policy, CEO Greg Abel can authorise buybacks after consulting Chairman Warren Buffett when Berkshire shares trade below a conservatively determined estimate of intrinsic value.
The buyback adds a second company-specific valuation signal to the quarter. Berkshire was willing to put $10 billion into Alphabet and more than $4.5 billion into its own shares. 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 $19.77 billion of net stock buying looks large after 14 quarters of selling. Berkshire’s liquidity reserve barely changed in comparison.
Its insurance-and-other businesses held $359.2 billion of cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury bills net of unsettled purchases at June 30, down from $373.5 billion at March 31. The decline was $14.3 billion, or less than 4%.
Berkshire therefore bought substantially more equities and repurchased billions of dollars of its own shares without materially changing the size of the financial cushion it had built. The Q2 filing continues to describe financial strength and ample liquidity as paramount.
Q2 does not show Berkshire abandoning its giant cash buffer. It shows Berkshire finding more things worth buying while keeping that buffer largely intact.
Greg Abel became Berkshire’s CEO on January 1, 2026, while Warren Buffett remained chairman. The timing is notable, although Berkshire does not disclose who originated every individual stock purchase.
Abel had already explained the basic approach in his first annual shareholder letter. Berkshire’s cash and Treasury holdings were there both for protection and to provide money when attractive opportunities appeared. He wrote that Berkshire would aim for ownership of “productive businesses over U.S. Treasuries” while judging investments by their expected return and long-term value.
Q2 is consistent with that approach. Berkshire found several prices it was prepared to act on and still kept hundreds of billions of dollars available.
The stronger conclusion is therefore narrower than declaring a new Abel-era investment strategy. More opportunities cleared Berkshire’s investment standards during Q2 than in the quarters immediately before it.
Berkshire has announced no broad call that the overall market is cheap. Its known Q2 activity includes a $10 billion Alphabet investment and $4.53 billion of Berkshire share repurchases, both tied to specific companies and prices rather than a forecast for the wider market.
Q2 does not provide enough evidence for that conclusion. Abel’s shareholder letter retained Berkshire’s emphasis on patiently waiting for investments offering sufficient returns while preserving substantial liquidity. Buffett remains chairman, and Berkshire still held $359.2 billion of liquid assets in its insurance-and-other businesses at June 30.
Berkshire’s Q2 MD&A reports $359.2 billion of insurance-and-other cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury bills net of unsettled purchases at June 30, down from $373.5 billion at March 31.
The SEC lists August 14, 2026 as the deadline for Form 13F reports covering holdings at June 30. Berkshire’s latest 13F as of August 10 still covers the March quarter.
Berkshire’s 14-quarter selling streak has ended, yet Q2 still looks more like selective buying than a broad change in investment philosophy. The $10 billion Alphabet deal and $4.53 billion of Berkshire share repurchases show where some of the money went, while the company kept most of its liquidity intact.
The remaining $13.47 billion of Q2 equity purchases is the key unknown. Berkshire’s August 14 Form 13F should reveal part of that buying. A few large additions would fit Berkshire’s long-standing approach; a much wider spread of purchases would provide stronger evidence that its buying pattern is changing under Abel.
