With longtime CEO Warren Buffett now handing over the reins to incumbent CEO Greg Abel, renowned venture capital firm Berkshire Hathaway is seeing a wind of change for the first financial quarter under Abel. This has marked a rebalancing of its $280 billion equity portfolio, with the company making bold bets it earlier never considered.
For starters, the company has re-entered the aviation sector, long avoided by Buffett after his troublesome investment in USAir. Under CEO Abel, the company has invested $2.8 billion in Delta Airways for a 6.1% stake, after the company had sold more than $4 billion worth of stakes in United, American, Southwest and Delta Airlines six years ago.
Besides this, the company has also increased its holding of Alphabet Class A and C shares, buying 36.4 million shares. Following this, Berkshire now controls about 58 million shares worth $17 billion, making it one of its top ten investments. This has come after the company liquidated its position in Amazon as it aims to reduce exposure to consumer-facing e-commerce companies.
Overall, Berkshire has had quite an eventful first quarter post Buffett’s exit. It has bought $16 billion worth of equities and sold almost $24 billion as it looks to rebalance its portfolio to exclude overvalued stocks. In fact, the company has sold more stocks in this quarter than it has bought for the previous 14 quarters. However, the company hasn’t bought back its own stock, as it has paused such repurchases in May 2024.
