The investment that teaches: Is Warren Buffett still pulling the strings?

Warren Buffett is no longer the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, but it seems that even at the age of 95, he still holds significant influence over the company's investment portfolio.

At the center is one of the most surprising investments of his late career: a holding of approximately 106 million shares of Alphabet, worth nearly 38 billion dollars.

The data, published in Berkshire's quarterly update, reveals that by the end of June, Alphabet had become the third-largest holding in the company's stock portfolio, after Apple and American Express.

Buffett said in an interview in July that he was the one who began building the position in the third quarter of 2025 — less than a year later, it is already a bet of tens of billions of dollars.

The move is particularly significant because Buffett avoided investments in technology companies for years. According to him, such companies are often outside his circle of competence, trade at high valuations, and it is difficult to assess their growth prospects in a world where technology changes rapidly.

However, Alphabet managed to change the picture. The company's market value currently stands at about 4.2 trillion dollars, and the stock has jumped by about 70% in the last year and more than tripled in value since May 2023, against the backdrop of massive investments in artificial intelligence.

"Alphabet is expected to be a winner, based on its track record, more than probably 95% of what is marketed on Wall Street," Buffett told CNBC in July. However, he also warned against the hundreds of billions of dollars that Alphabet and its competitors are investing in AI infrastructure. "It's real money," he said. "It's the game they are playing now."

A move that signals a change in approach

According to David Kass, a professor of finance at the University of Maryland who closely follows Berkshire, Buffett still largely manages the company's stock portfolio together with investment manager Ted Weschler. "He comes to the office every day, and investments are his main business," Kass told Business Insider.

The investment in Alphabet fits into an unusual quarter for Berkshire. The company purchased shares on a net basis of 23.5 billion dollars — after 14 consecutive quarters in which it was a net seller of stocks. At the same time, it bought back its own shares for 4.5 billion dollars, the highest quarterly amount since 2021.

The shift from thousands of billions of dollars in cash to active investments may signal a change in Buffett's approach to the market. During his last three years as CEO, he almost tripled Berkshire's cash pile after struggling to find investments at prices that seemed attractive to him. Now, even after handing over the reins to Greg Abel, it seems that Buffett is not yet done betting on the companies he believes in.