Berkshire Hathaway reveals stakes in Delta, Macy’s under CEO Greg Abel
Berkshire Hathaway made significant investment moves in the first quarter of the year, disclosing a new $2.65 billion investment in Delta Air Lines and a stake in Macy’s. The company also sold off smaller stock holdings including Amazon, UnitedHealth Group, Visa, and Mastercard.
The changes in the portfolio were a result of a reshuffling following the appointment of Greg Abel as Berkshire’s new CEO, succeeding Warren Buffett.
One notable move was Berkshire more than tripling its share stake in Google parent Alphabet, making it one of its largest common stock investments at $16.6 billion.
Berkshire also doubled its stake in the New York Times, now owning about 9% of the company’s stock. The filing disclosed Berkshire’s US-listed stock holdings as of March 31, totaling most of its $288 billion equity portfolio.
In the first quarter, Berkshire bought $15.94 billion and sold $24.09 billion of stocks.
It is likely that most of the stock sales were directed by Abel, who inherited a significant portion of Berkshire’s equity portfolio. Abel mentioned overseeing 94% of Berkshire’s stock holdings, with investment manager Ted Weschler handling the remaining 6%.
Delta Air Lines, one of Berkshire’s new investments, is considered one of the best-run large US airlines. After the announcement, Delta’s shares rose 3.2% in after-hours trading.
Macy’s also saw a positive impact, with its shares rising 5.9% after Berkshire disclosed a 3-million-share stake worth about $55 million.
