Alphabet shares jump more than 5% after Berkshire Hathaway discloses a multi-billion-dollar position, reshaping the tech and value-investing narrative around Google’s parent.
Berkshire’s rare tech bet sends Alphabet stock higher
Alphabet shares rallied more than 5 percent on Monday, November 17, 2025, after Berkshire Hathaway revealed a new stake worth about 4.9 billion dollars based on early trading prices. The move followed a Form 13F-HR equity portfolio filing showing Berkshire owned 17.85 million Alphabet Class A shares as of September 30, 2025, a position valued at roughly 4.3 billion dollars at quarter-end.
The purchase makes Alphabet Berkshire’s tenth-largest U.S. equity holding and marks one of the last major stock picks before Warren Buffett hands the chief executive role to Greg Abel at the end of 2025. Alphabet stock is now up about 46 percent in 2025, making it the best-performing member of the so-called Magnificent Seven cohort this year.
Alphabet stands out in an AI-driven tech market
Berkshire’s move is striking because Buffett has long said he avoids technology names he does not feel he can forecast, even though he and late vice chair Charlie Munger publicly regretted missing Google earlier. The new Alphabet stake gives Berkshire direct exposure to a company viewed by many analysts as a leader in AI infrastructure, search tools, and cloud computing.
Alphabet trades at about 25 times 12-month forward earnings, below valuation multiples for Microsoft and Nvidia, even after its 2025 rally. The Roundhill Magnificent 7 ETF that tracks the biggest U.S. tech names has been broadly flat since September, so Berkshire’s entry into Alphabet highlights the stock as a relative winner in a noisy AI trade.
Apple trimmed again as Berkshire cash hits a record
The same 13F filing shows Berkshire cut its Apple stake to about 238.2 million shares from 280 million during the third quarter, meaning it has sold nearly three-quarters of the more than 900 million Apple shares it once held. Apple still accounts for roughly 23 percent of Berkshire’s disclosed equity portfolio and remains its single largest holding by market value.
Berkshire was a net seller of equities for the twelfth straight quarter, buying about 6.4 billion dollars of stocks and selling roughly 12.5 billion dollars between July and September. That pattern, combined with heavy allocations to short-term Treasuries, helped push Berkshire’s cash and equivalents to a record 381.7 billion dollars at the end of the third quarter, according to its third-quarter earnings materials and independent analysis.
What Berkshire’s Alphabet bet means for investors
For Alphabet shareholders, Berkshire’s entry is a strong endorsement of the company’s AI and cloud strategy at a time when many investors are questioning whether high data-center spending will deliver enough profit. The vote of confidence comes as Alphabet’s latest earnings showed AI investment helping turn Google Cloud into a more important growth driver.
For Berkshire investors, the position slightly rebalances a portfolio still dominated by financials and Apple, while the huge cash pile signals that Buffett and his team remain selective on equity valuations even as they commit fresh capital to a large-cap tech name. The combination of a record cash buffer and a targeted bet on Alphabet underlines a cautious but still opportunistic stance on U.S. mega-cap tech heading into 2026.
