Greg Abel invests $180 billion in Apple, Amex, Alphabet

Greg Abel, the new leader of Berkshire Hathaway, has put more than half of the conglomerate’s $360 billion stock portfolio into just three stocks: Apple, American Express and Alphabet.

This concentration marks a rare continuity in Berkshire’s investing style under Warren Buffett, who said publicly that he had a hand in picking Alphabet for the top three. Buffett has long favored businesses with wide, durable moats that can compound value over decades. Apple now represents about 22 % of Berkshire’s equity holdings, American Express just over 17 %, and Alphabet around 13 %. Together they make up more than 50 % of the portfolio, a level Buffett described in past shareholder letters as “our idea of a dream holding.”

Apple’s predictable replacement cycles for iPhones, Macs and iPads create steady cash flow and high-margin services such as iCloud, Apple Pay and App Store commissions. The company’s affluent customer base and locked-in ecosystem generate recurring revenue streams that compound year after year. American Express, in turn, operates a closed-loop network as both issuer and processor, charging premium fees to affluent cardholders who value security and prestige. Alphabet stands out for its AI advantages: its search, cloud and advertising platforms sit on vast data troves and deep compute resources that give it an unmatched edge as artificial intelligence reshapes digital advertising and enterprise software.

The trio’s dominance means Berkshire’s performance now hinges on three bets rather than dozens. If AI adoption accelerates and Apple’s ecosystem strengthens, the portfolio could compound even faster under Abel’s watch. If any one stumbles—regulatory crackdowns on payments, a slowdown in ad spending, or a shift away from iPhones—the impact on Berkshire’s balance sheet would be outsized. The new structure tests whether Abel can preserve Buffett’s discipline while navigating a market where technology and consumer finance are changing faster than ever.