Greg Abel’s First Berkshire 13F: 16 Exits and an Alphabet Tripled

On May 15, 2026, Berkshire Hathaway filed its first Form 13F under new CEO Greg Abel. The filing covers Q1 2026 and is the first public window into the post-Buffett era. The book shrank from 40 positions to 29, sixteen names were exited completely, the Alphabet stake was tripled, and a new $2.6B Delta Air Lines position appeared from nothing. Berkshire has rarely done this much in a single quarter.

Key facts at a glance

• Berkshire’s equity portfolio fell from roughly $274B to $263B between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026, per the Q1 2026 13F filing on SEC EDGAR.
• Sixteen positions were exited completely in one quarter. Visa, Mastercard, Amazon, and UnitedHealth were among them, all of which were Buffett-era holdings.
• The combined Alphabet stake was tripled to $16.6B, making Alphabet a top-five Berkshire holding for the first time, per CNBC coverage of the filing.
• A new Delta Air Lines position of 39.8M shares was initiated at roughly $2.6B, marking Berkshire’s return to airlines after Buffett’s 2020 full exit.
• Position count fell from 40 to 29, an unusual concentration move for a fund of Berkshire’s size.

Who is Greg Abel

Greg Abel became Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO when Warren Buffett stepped back from operations. Abel ran Berkshire Energy for over a decade and was named successor publicly in 2021. He has been close to the equity book for years through proximity to Buffett and Charlie Munger, but his own equity-selection style was largely untested at the parent level until this filing.

The market has been waiting for exactly this disclosure: the first 13F where Abel has unambiguous final say. The 16 exits are the loudest signal.

What the 13F actually shows

Berkshire’s Q1 2026 13F discloses a portfolio that is smaller, more concentrated, and rotated toward different sectors than the book Buffett curated. The headline moves cluster into three buckets.

Move	Names	Size or count
Full exits	Visa, Mastercard, Amazon, UnitedHealth, and 12 others	16 positions
Notable adds	Alphabet (tripled), Delta Air Lines (new)	$16.6B and $2.6B
Position count	Down from 40 to 29	−11 names

Press reporting from CNBC and Yahoo Finance highlights three patterns: an exit from US-listed payment networks, a sharp reduction in healthcare exposure, and a return to airline equity that Berkshire had publicly disavowed during the pandemic.

Why this matters

Three angles are worth tracking, none of which are buy or sell calls.

First, the Visa and Mastercard exits are noteworthy because both were durable Buffett-era holdings supported by the “tollbooth on payments” thesis. Whether Abel disagrees with that thesis or is simply rebalancing on valuation cannot be read off the filing alone.

Second, the tripled Alphabet stake is a directional vote within the AI-platform race. It arrives in a quarter when other large funds (Pershing Square most visibly) were doing the opposite, cutting Alphabet sharply. Two famous portfolio managers reading the same name in opposite directions on the same quarter is a rare setup.

Third, the Delta initiation is the most surprising single line in the filing. Berkshire exited all four major US airlines in April 2020 during the pandemic. Returning to the sector at $2.6B in size is a clear statement that the prior exit was situational, not permanent.

What this 13F does not tell you

A Berkshire 13F is famously incomplete as a portfolio picture, and the constraints apply to this filing too.

• No private operating businesses. The 13F covers public US equities only. Berkshire’s operating book (insurance, BNSF, Berkshire Energy, manufacturing) is the larger part of the company by earnings and does not appear here.
• No Apple-position context inside the broader thesis. Apple is still the largest single equity holding, but the 13F shows position size, not the rationale for trimming or holding through prior quarters.
• No confidential treatment requests resolved or pending. Berkshire has historically requested temporary confidentiality on early-stage positions. Anything still under that umbrella will appear in a later filing.
• No timing. The 16 exits happened sometime between January 1 and March 31, 2026. Whether they came in Abel’s first week or his last week of the quarter is not disclosed.
• No short or derivative book. Berkshire’s public posture is long-only, but the 13F by itself does not prove the absence of hedges held through Berkshire Energy or insurance subsidiaries.

How this compares to recent Berkshire quarters

Quarter	Position count	Notable change
Q1 2025	41	Trimmed Apple
Q2 2025	41	Steady
Q3 2025	40	Small trims
Q4 2025	40	Stable into transition
Q1 2026	29	First Abel filing, 16 exits, Alphabet tripled

The contrast is the point. Recent Buffett-era quarters showed marginal movement. The first Abel quarter shows the largest single-quarter cleanup in the modern record.

FAQ

When did Greg Abel become Berkshire CEO?

Berkshire announced the formal CEO transition such that Abel was at the helm for the entire Q1 2026 reporting period. The May 15, 2026 13F is the first quarter that reflects only his decision-making.

Did Berkshire exit Apple?

No. Apple remained Berkshire’s largest single equity holding in the Q1 2026 filing. The exits announced in this quarter did not include Apple.

Why exit Visa and Mastercard?

The filing does not explain reasons. Press coverage at CNBC treats it as a valuation or thesis change. Either interpretation is consistent with the filing.

Is the Delta initiation a contradiction of Buffett’s 2020 airline exit?

It is a reversal in direction. Buffett exited all four major US airlines in April 2020 during the pandemic. A $2.6B Delta initiation six years later under a new CEO is a different decision in a different environment.

What is the new total Berkshire equity book?

About $263B at quarter-end. That is down from roughly $274B in Q4 2025.