Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway just made a massive bet on Google’s parent company, Alphabet, dropping $4.3 billion on shares during the third quarter of 2025. The investment quickly grew to over $5 billion as Alphabet’s stock price climbed in after-hours trading by September 30th.
This marks the largest new tech investment Berkshire has made in years.
The timing is particularly interesting because Berkshire reduced its Apple holdings during the same period. It’s like switching from one favorite restaurant to another – both are great, but sometimes you want to try something new.
Apple remains a significant holding, but Alphabet is now getting serious attention as Berkshire balances its tech investments.
Why Alphabet? The numbers tell a compelling story. Alphabet is the fourth-largest company globally with a market cap of $3.3 trillion, giving Berkshire plenty of room to deploy capital.
The company’s operating income jumped 9.5% to $31.2 billion in the third quarter. Even more impressive, excluding a one-time $3.5 billion EU fine, operating income actually grew 22%.
Alphabet sits on a treasure chest of $98.5 billion in cash and marketable securities.
The company has been generous to shareholders too, reducing outstanding shares by about 9% since 2020 through buybacks.
They still have $74.8 billion authorized for future repurchases.
Plus, Alphabet launched its first-ever dividend in 2024 and modestly increased it in 2025. This dividend strategy allows Alphabet to distribute a portion of its retained earnings to shareholders while still maintaining substantial capital for reinvestment and growth.
These moves align perfectly with Berkshire’s investment playbook: large companies with strong cash flows, robust balance sheets, and shareholder-friendly capital allocation.
Alphabet checks every box.
Berkshire made other moves too, adding 4.3 million Chubb shares and taking small positions in Lamar Advertising, Domino’s Pizza, Sirius XM, and Lennar. Notably, Berkshire also sold 41.8 million Apple shares, marking the second consecutive quarter of reducing its position in the tech giant.
However, these purchases pale compared to the Alphabet stake.
The market reaction has been particularly positive.
Analysts see this as a vote of confidence in Alphabet’s management and long-term prospects.
The investment signals Berkshire’s evolving approach to technology companies and could prompt other investors to take a fresh look at Alphabet’s potential.
