(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis of all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can subscribe here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)
ABEL MONITORING THE PORTFOLIO
Notable positions cut, Alphabet more than tripled, Delta is back
Berkshire Hathaway’s equity portfolio experienced its biggest correction ever during Greg Abel’s first three months as the company’s CEO, according to a new SEC filing.
Two new words, Delta Air Lines again Macy’swere added to the list, along with an increase of four goods.
Parent of Google Alphabets got a big boost as Berkshire increased its holdings by 224% in the first quarter.
Given its size, the expansion is likely an Abel move that was approved, or perhaps suggested, by Warren Buffett.
With a market value of 16.6 billion as of the end of the first quarter, the parent of Google is the seventh largest equity in Berkshire.
At least in the short term, the decision to buy so many shares has been incredibly successful.
Shares have seen a 38% rally since the end of the first quarter, six weeks ago.
Abel dramatically reduces the number of companies in the portfolio
As previewed by The Wall Street Journal last month, Abel appears to have sold most or all of the stocks held by portfolio manager Todd Combs, who moved to JPMorgan in early December.
Abel, or Ted Weschler, the portfolio manager at Berkshire, probably sold other stocks that weren’t Todd’s, but the company doesn’t usually publicly show who’s responsible for individual names, so we don’t know for sure.
Funds issued in the first quarter include the following:
The 2.3 million Amazon shares sold in the first quarter were all that remained after Berkshire sold 7.7 million of its 10 million shares in the fourth quarter.
Constellation Brandsassociated with Combs, was completed with a 95% cut.
Bank of America again an applewhich have been greatly reduced in the past, survived.
BofA was cut less than 1% and Apple’s position was unchanged.
A table with Berkshire’s entire equity portfolio appears later in the newsletter.
Chevron is the largest cut
Measured by market value, Chevron It was the biggest reduction in the first quarter.
Shares in the 35% cut were worth more than $8 billion at the end of the first quarter. The remainder was worth more than $17 billion at the time.
Especially given its large size, it is not thought to be Combs stock.
The stock was rising in the first quarter as Berkshire was selling but is down 7.6% since the end of Q1.
It is up 25.4% year to date amid higher oil prices due to the Iran war.
Back in the air with Delta
The second biggest increase for Q1, after Alphabet, was the return of Delta Air Lines.
Berkshire bought 39.8 million shares, currently valued at $2.8 billion.
He bought stakes in 2016 as consolidation increased the carriers’ pricing power.
In early 2017, he told CNBC’s Becky Quick, “It’s true that the Jets had a bad 20th century. They’re like the Chicago Cubs. And they got that bad century out of the way, I hope.”
It is also a return to a sector he avoided for years after his troubled investment in US Airways in 1989.
In his 2007 letter to shareholders, Buffett wrote, “The worst kind of business is one that grows rapidly, requires a lot of capital to fuel growth, and then earns little or no income. Think of airlines. Here a lasting competitive advantage has seemed impossible since the days of the Wright Brothers. Indeed, if a visionary capitalist could have been more successful in Haville, he would have had a greater effect in Haville. down.”
Given his history with airlines, it seems that Buffett could not have made a recent return to the skies.
(The CNBC Buffett archive includes a collection of clips featuring his thoughts on airplanes over the years.)
Macy’s and the Times
Berkshire tripled its stake in New York Times to 15.1 million shares, currently worth more than $1.1 billion.
And the new position on Macy’s sent the grocery chain’s stock 5.3% higher after the closing bell, though it’s only worth $59 million, even with late earnings included.
Buffett-Curry lunch auction won with $9 million bid
BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE IN INTERNET HEAVEN
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A COMPLETE PORTFOLIO
BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH
BRK.A stock price: $723,821.00
BRK.B stock price: $482.70
BRK.BP/E (TTM): 14.37
Berkshire’s market capitalization: $1,041,004,861,297
Berkshire Cash as of March 31: $397.4 billion (Up 6.5% from Dec. 31)
Excluding Railroad and Debt Relief Bills Payable: $380.2 billion (Up 3.0% from December 31)
Berkshire repurchased $234 million of its shares in Q1 2026.
(All figures are as of date of publication, unless otherwise indicated)
BERKSHIRE’S EQUITY HOLDINGS – May 15, 2026
Berkshire’s top publicly traded shares in the US and Japan, by market value, based on recent closing prices.
Withholding as of March 31, 2026, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s May 15, 2026 13F filing, except for:
A complete list of holdings and current market values is available on CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Please send any questions or comments about this book to alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don’t send questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
If you haven’t subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.
Also, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There is a collection here on the Berkshire website.
— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
