Buffett says he drove Berkshire Hathaway’s Alphabet investment in CNBC interview

Warren Buffett said he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s Alphabet investment, ending speculation that Greg Abel had been the main force behind the bet. In a CNBC interview, Buffett said “I initiated,” while adding, “He’s not doing anything I don’t approve of. We talk all the time.” Buffett said he had long avoided technology companies because he did not understand them, and called passing on Google earlier a mistake. He said Alphabet and other hyperscalers became more attractive once the AI race pushed them into far heavier capital spending on data centers and chips, making them resemble railroads and utilities in the scale of their investment needs. Berkshire now holds a $31 billion stake in Alphabet after it began building the position in the third quarter of 2025, with buying accelerating this year and another $10 billion spent last month. Alphabet shares rose nearly 4% on Wednesday and were still climbing Thursday, while Buffett described Google as more likely to be a winner than most ideas marketed on Wall Street. At the same time, he cast the AI spending battle as a contest companies may feel forced to join, saying they “don’t have any choice” and suggesting hyperscalers are now playing a game they may not want to play.