Greg Abel restarted Berkshire Hathaway's share repurchase program in the second quarter, deploying $4.53 billion after a 21-month hiatus that began under Warren Buffett. The purchases bring total buybacks since July 2018 to more than $82 billion, retiring nearly 13% of outstanding shares.
The hiatus ends
Berkshire repurchased $234 million of its own stock in March, the first buyback since June 2024. The pace accelerated sharply in the June-ended quarter with $4.53 billion executed. The 24-quarter streak of consecutive repurchases that ran from July 2018 through June 2024 had totaled around $78 billion before stopping abruptly. Abel, who became chief executive on Jan. 1 after Buffett's Dec. 31 retirement, has now restarted the program.
The Alphabet distraction
The buyback revival coincided with Berkshire's most aggressive equity shopping in years. In the first quarter, Abel eliminated 16 positions and more than tripled the stake in Alphabet. An additional $17 billion went into the Google parent during the second quarter, lifting it to the portfolio's third-largest holding. A $6.8 billion purchase of Taylor Morrison Home also appeared in the quarter. Yet the single largest capital deployment in Berkshire's recent history remains its own shares.
The rule change that started it
Buffett was constrained until July 17, 2018, when the board replaced a 120%-of-book-value trigger with a simpler test: at least $30 billion in cash, equivalents and Treasuries on the balance sheet, and a judgment that shares are intrinsically cheap. That amendment unleashed the $78 billion run. The current authorization persists as long as the stock trades below a 50% premium to book value.
What Abel watches now
Berkshire's $360 billion equity portfolio and its cash pile both dwarf the buyback amounts. But the repurchases are the only capital return mechanism, Berkshire pays no dividend. Each quarter's operating results, not the 13F, reveal the pace. The second-quarter filing shows Abel is willing to act when the valuation test is met, even while building massive new positions elsewhere.