Berkshire & AI Hyperscalers: Buffett Holds GOOGL, Dumps AMZN

Key Points

• Berkshire Hathaway's latest 13F filing revealed interesting moves from Q4 2025, especially regarding AI hyperscalers.
• The company initiated a position in a top media company, pushing hard into the digital economy.
• While Berkshire sold a portion of its AAPL holdings, the Magnificent Seven stock remains its largest position.

Investment giant Berkshire Hathaway NYSE: BRK.B just released its Q4 2025 portfolio moves. The company’s 13F filing details the trades it made during the quarter ending Dec. 31, providing insight into its views on several notable names. The firm’s key portfolio changes include one of the world’s most well-known media companies and multiple Magnificent Seven stocks.

This latest round of trades is particularly noteworthy. At the end of 2025, Berkshire founder Warren Buffett officially retired from his position as CEO. Greg Abel has since replaced him, but Buffett will continue to have a strong hand in the company, serving as the Chairman of the Board.

Thus, these were Berkshire's last moves while Buffett held the firm’s top management role. As Buffett exits his role as CEO after an incredible 60 years, let’s dive into Berkshire’s most significant trades in Q4 2025.

The New York Times: Berkshire’s Shiny New Holding

In Q4, Berkshire initiated a fresh position in the media outlet New York Times NYSE: NYT, buying nearly 5.1 million shares. While this move is interesting, it is relatively small compared to the size of Berkshire’s total portfolio.

At the end of Q4, the position was worth approximately $352 million, or around 0.13% of Berkshire’s equity holdings.

NYT shares performed well in Q4, rising around 21%, and the stock has continued climbing higher in 2026. NYT’s November earnings report was a key catalyst, helping to accelerate its rally.

That quarter, the company added 460,000 net new digital subscribers, a 77% increase year-over-year. Digital advertising revenue also increased by 20%. That figure has accelerated every quarter since Q4 2023, and climbed to 25% in NYT’s latest earnings.

Berkshire’s purchase demonstrates confidence in NYT’s digital transformation strategy, which has already made significant headway.

Berkshire Reduces Apple Stake, Trims Several Key Names

Notably, Berkshire reduced its stake in Apple NASDAQ: AAPL by 4% during Q4. This continues Berkshire’s recent trend of selling Apple. In Q2 2025, Berkshire lowered its shares held in Apple by around 7%, and reduced its position by 15% in Q3 2025.

Despite this, Apple remains Berkshire’s largest position, valued at nearly $62 billion at the end of Q4. This amounts to almost 23% of Berkshire’s equity portfolio, signaling that it is still confident in the iPhone maker’s long-term future.

Other notable reductions include Berkshire selling 48% of its Atlanta Braves NASDAQ: BATRK shares, a 9% reduction in Bank of America NYSE: BAC, and a 3% reduction in Constellation Brands NYSE: STZ. However, the biggest headline is Berkshire’s sale of hyperscaler and Magnificent Seven giant Amazon.com NASDAQ: AMZN.

AMZN vs GOOGL: Berkshire Dumps One, Holds the Other Steady

During the quarter, Berkshire sold more than 7.7 million Amazon shares. This moved its Amazon holdings down from 10 million shares to around 2.3 million shares, a massive 77% decrease. In contrast to its sales of Magnificent Seven peer Apple, the drop in Berkshire’s Amazon holdings was sudden. This was Berkshire’s first AMZN sale since dropping its shares held from 11 million to 10 million in Q3 2023.

The reasoning for such a drastic move is up for debate. However, it is worth noting that Amazon achieved its all-time high closing price of $254 in Q4. Since then, the stock is down around 20%. Achieving and hovering near this level was likely one of the key impetuses for Berkshire’s sale.

It's possible that Berkshire anticipated Amazon’s lofty capital expenditure (CapEx) guidance and moved preemptively. The firm plans to spend $200 billion on CapEx in 2026. This is the highest among all hyperscalers and $50 billion above analyst expectations.

Amazon’s CapEx guidance was one of the key factors that created downward pressure on its share price after the firm’s latest earnings report.

Interestingly, Berkshire didn’t alter its position in Amazon’s cloud data center competitor, Google parent company Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL. This comes even though Alphabet also hit many new all-time highs during Q4. This suggests that Berkshire is more confident in Google’s overall cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) strategy than Amazon’s.

Analyst Forecasts Clash with Berkshire’s Long-Term Perspective

Overall, the most interesting takeaway from Berkshire’s Q4 13F revolves around not only the actions it took, but those that it didn’t take. By selling Amazon and maintaining its position on Google, the firm is showing a clear preference for the latter.

Price target data indicates that analysts disagree with this take. The consensus price target on AMZN implies approximately 43% upside in shares, and the consensus target on Google implies 20% upside. However, it is important to remember that price targets are 12-month forecasts. Meanwhile, Berkshire typically invests over many years, and the company is likely signaling where it sees value long-term.