Warren Buffett Takes Credit for Berkshire’s Alphabet Stock Buy: ‘I Initiated It’

Berkshire Hathaway first bought Alphabet Class A (GOOGL) shares in the third quarter of 2025, and later increased the position in the first quarter of 2026.

Today, Berkshire Hathaway owns 54,249,798 GOOGL shares, which were worth $15.6 billion at the end of the first quarter and the company’s seventh largest stock investment.

Berkshire also took an initial stake in Alphabet Class C shares (GOOG) in the first quarter, a position worth $1 billion at the end of the first quarter, ranking 19^th in the investment portfolio.

Asked about who made the Alphabet play first between Buffett and his successor Greg Abel, the Oracle of Omaha didn’t hold back.

"I initiated it," Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick on Wednesday.

Buffett said he talks all the time with Abel, including since his retirement.

"I am not doing anything that he doesn’t approve of. He’s not doing anything I don’t approve of."

As the CEO, Abel is the "decider," Buffett clarified Wednesday.

Along with investing in Class A and Class C shares, Berkshire Hathaway also participated in a private placement of $10 billion from Alphabet, helping to fund the company’s future growth.

"The trick in life is to find – I mean investing – is to find businesses that are going to earn high returns on capital for an extended period of time."

Finally taking a position in Alphabet stock in 2025, Buffett has previously expressed regret for not buying the Magnificent Seven stock sooner. Berkshire Hathaway owns the Geico insurance brand and recognized early the success of Google’s advertising business through Geico ads.

While he’s a fan of Alphabet stock going forward, Buffett remains cautious on the large amount of spending being done to compete in the AI sector.

"The real question with Google and all of its competitors now, because they’re all laying out hundreds of billions, and that’s real money. That’s the game they’re playing now. They weren’t playing that game with computer software."

Buffett also said that Alphabet is not his favorite Berkshire Hathaway position or owned business.

"I would say that I don’t like it as well as at least four or five other businesses that we own."

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Buffett on Apple Stock

Another stock covered in his interview with CNBC was Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which is the largest holding in the Berkshire Hathaway investment portfolio.

Even with Tim Cook stepping down as CEO, Apple is one of Buffett’s favorite stocks.

"I know more about Apple than I knew many years ago," Buffett told CNBC.

Berkshire Hathaway holds 227,917,808 AAPL shares as of the end of the first quarter, a position tat was worth $57.8 billion at the end of March and represented 22% of the investment portfolio.

"If you’re Apple, you’ve got very, very smart people all over the world shooting and trying to figure out how to make sure that, that Apple’s future, the future is as bright as the past."

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