Berkshire Hathaway is increasing the size of its stake in Google's parent company and beefing up its holdings in homebuilders, according to the conglomerate's latest snapshot of its investment portfolio.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based company also continued to pare its stake in financial companies and a number of other stocks in the April-June quarter, according to a regulatory filing filed late Friday.
CEO Greg Abel, who took over from Warren Buffett at the start of the year, agreed in June to make a $10 billion stock investment in Alphabet, expanding on the stake that Berkshire started to build last fall.
In the second quarter, Berkshire picked up roughly 48.1 million shares in Alphabet, bringing its total shares in the tech giant to roughly 106 million. That stake was valued at about $37.76 billion as of June 30, according to the filing. As recently as the end of December, Berkshire held only 17.8 million Alphabet shares worth $5.6 billion.
Alphabet has said it plans to raise $80 billion to pay for the computing infrastructure needed to power its AI offerings.
Beyond tech, Berkshire continued to boost its investments in the U.S. homebuilding sector. Its stake in homebuilder Lennar increased nearly 30% in the second quarter. Berkshire also established a small new stake in D.R. Horton that was worth $580,504 at the end of June.
In July, Berkshire completed a $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison.
Berkshire also sharply increased its shares in Delta Air Lines and Macy's in the second quarter. The stakes were worth about $5.37 billion and $173 million, respectively, as of June 30.
Berkshire also pruned its investment portfolio in the second quarter, reducing its stake in several companies relative to where they stood in the first quarter, including supermarket operator Kroger, steel manufacturer Nucor and dialysis giant DaVita.
The company also dumped all its holdings — 632,890 shares — in beverage company Constellation Brands.
Berkshire also pared its shares in several financial companies. Its stakes in Bank of America and Ally Financial declined by around 6% and 6.9%, respectively, and it slashed its shares in Capital One Financial by 58%.
Many investors have followed Berkshire’s portfolio closely over the years because they liked to copy Buffett’s moves. He remains the company's chairman and largest shareholder.
But Berkshire, which owns dozens of businesses including major insurers like Geico and BNSF railroad, never comments on the moves it makes to its stock portfolio from quarter to quarter because it doesn’t want to discuss what it is buying and selling.
FILE - Shareholders wait in line outside CHI Health Center Omaha for the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, May 2, 2026, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz, File)
Hawaii’s Big Island was threatened Saturday with its first possible direct hit from a hurricane in 155 years as Hurricane Lala roared in the Pacific Ocean and gusty wind, waves and rain pounded the region.
The National Hurricane Center said Lala’s maximum sustained winds increased to 75 mph (120 kph), making it a Category 1 hurricane. The eyewall was forecast to move over or near the island’s southern end by the evening, lashing its worst winds at volcanic slopes thousands of feet above sea level.
Gov. Josh Green, noting rainfall of 2 inches (5 centimeters) an hour, said “people should be sheltering in place now.”
Forecasters said higher elevations on the island, dominated by the towering Mauna Kea volcano, could get as much as 25 inches (63.5 centimeters) of rain. That could cause life-threatening mudslides in a mountainous area where people live off the grid in improvised housing.
Earlier the governor called it an “enormous storm,” capable of destructive flooding and even the possibility of wildfires kicked up by strong winds across the island chain. Electricity was knocked out for nearly 20% of customers on the Big Island, according to poweroutage.us.
Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old lifelong resident, said he planned to “hunker down, cross my fingers, hope the lights don’t go out” at a care home just outside Hilo. He said gas stations were busy as people sought fuel for chain saws and vehicles.
“I think stocking up is part of life over here. ... You learn to be self-reliant,” Camara said.
Mike Caputo, who lives in Keaau, near the Big Island's east coast, said his power generator was ready and a 10,000-gallon (37.8 kiloliter) home water tank was full. He said the main concern was flash flooding and fallen trees, especially albizia, a common tree.
“They’re not very sturdy, but they grow extremely large,” said Caputo, 50, a local fire captain. “They can make roads impassable."
The Big Island was under a hurricane warning, and tropical storm warnings were issued for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau.
A Category 3 hurricane hit the northeast corner of the Big Island in 1871, according to research by a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist. The latest forecast has Lala striking “very close to the southern tip of the Big Island,” said Vanessa Almanza, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu.
Shelters were opened, events were canceled and ranchers were urged to leave their cattle in pastures, rather than structures that might collapse. “It doesn’t take landfall to create destruction,” Almanza said.
Indeed, Christine Matsuda, who lives in Waimea, on the northern side of the island, said “big gusts every few minutes rattle the whole house.”
“We're finding unexpected leaks in places that don't see water under normal conditions,” Matsuda said.
The hurricane center predicted 8 to 12 inches (20.3 to 30.5 centimeters) of total rainfall across Maui and the lower elevations of the Big Island, and 4 to 6 inches (10.2 to 15.2 centimeters) across the island chain. Many Hawaii residents are still dealing with the aftermath of devastating floods in March.
As winds ramped up across the islands, Almanza said dry and breezy conditions outside the storm would elevate fire concerns.
In 2023 the Maui town of Lahaina burned during extreme winds as a hurricane passed far to the south.
“Since the fire, everybody is way more aware of weather in general and our environment and things that are happening,” said Archie Kalepa of Lahaina, who is known in the area for his surfing, paddling and other ocean skills.
Kauai, which is several islands northwest up the archipelago from the Big Island, is where Hurricane Iniki made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in 1992 — an El Nino year like this one, when a warming of the Pacific near the equator increases Pacific hurricane activity and affects weather patterns across the globe.
“It did $3 billion worth of damage. It destroyed thousands of homes, and it did kill six people,” said Steven Businger, a University of Hawaii scientist. “We just can never know if a storm is going to turn.”
Associated Press writer Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed.
People walk along a path at Waikoloa Beach Resort as Tropical Storm Lala strengthened on the Big Island of Hawaii, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Sandbags are seen at a Hawaii County Department of Public Works sand pile ahead of Tropical Storm Lala in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. The tropical storm is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches Hawaii, with up to 25 inches of rain possible on the island of Hawaii, also commonly known as the Big Island. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Casey Delaries makes a sandbag in preparation for Tropical Storm Lala in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. The tropical storm is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches Hawaii, with up to 25 inches of rain possible on the island of Hawaii, also commonly known as the Big Island. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Shaheer Faltas, left, and his father-in-law, Joe Brosnan, fill sandbags in preparation for the arrival of Tropical Storm Lala in Captain Cook, Hawaii, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
This satellite image released by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Lala over the Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (NOAA via AP)
