Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) released its first-quarter 2026 13F filing on Friday, marking the first complete investment report card since the company’s biggest leadership change in six decades. Warren Buffett stepped down as CEO at the end of 2025, succeeded by Greg Abel, though Buffett remains chairman and continues to participate in investment decisions.
The filing reveals the first substantive adjustments by the new management team, with several moves marking a notable departure from Buffett’s classic investment style and drawing intense market scrutiny.
The most symbolic move in the reshuffle was Berkshire’s full liquidation of its 15-year holdings in Visa Inc. (V) and Mastercard Inc. (MA). The two global payment leaders, first added to the portfolio in the first quarter of 2011, had been core long-term positions. Their near-monopolistic global payment networks epitomized Buffett’s “moat” investment philosophy, delivering substantial returns for the company over the past decade and a half.
The Wall Street Journal reported in April, citing anonymous sources, that Abel concentrated on selling a large number of stocks managed by former top investment lieutenant Todd Combs, who recently left to join JPMorgan Chase & Co. Visa and Mastercard are widely believed to have been among the core positions under Combs’ oversight.
Market-wise, both payment giants have underperformed this year. Investors are concerned that the rise of crypto stablecoins and artificial intelligence could create more efficient payment methods, eroding their market dominance and squeezing transaction fee revenues. However, countervailing views hold that Visa and Mastercard’s competitive barriers are far stronger than anticipated. Both companies have recently emphasized that AI will be a key growth driver for their businesses, making their industry positions difficult to dislodge.
In contrast to the legacy position cleanup, the new stake in Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) more clearly reflects Abel’s independent judgment. As of the end of the first quarter, Berkshire’s Delta holdings were valued at approximately $2.8 billion, accounting for slightly less than 1% of its total investment portfolio.
The move is striking for its contrast with Buffett’s past decisions: it was Buffett himself who liquidated all of Berkshire’s airline stocks, including Delta, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, stating at the time that “the world has changed for the airlines.” Now, the market broadly believes the airline industry has completed a substantive correction. Delta’s stock hit an all-time high earlier this year, driven by the sustained post-pandemic recovery in experiential travel demand and incremental revenues from value-added services such as extra legroom.
The Iran conflict in March sent oil prices surging above $100 a barrel, pushing up fuel costs and triggering a short-term pullback in airline stocks, but also creating a buying window. As tensions in the Middle East eased, Delta’s stock rebounded quickly. It should be noted that short-term risks remain: regardless of when the conflict ends, oil and gas prices are likely to remain elevated, keeping airline stocks volatile. In the long term, however, the growth momentum Delta built prior to the Iran conflict remains intact.
The portfolio rotation in technology and consumer sectors highlights a shift in valuation logic. As of March 31, Berkshire had fully exited its position in Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN): the company held 10 million Amazon shares at the end of September 2025, reduced that to less than 2.3 million by year-end, and sold the remainder in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Berkshire initiated a new position in traditional retail giant Macy’s Inc. (M), purchasing nearly 1.7 million shares valued at about $30.1 million as of the end of the first quarter.
In terms of market performance, Amazon has outperformed the broader market significantly this year: as of May 14, its shares had risen 14.4%, far exceeding the S&P 500’s 8.7% gain. The company continues to invest heavily in long-term growth initiatives, and its current price-to-earnings ratio of 32 is in line with the S&P 500’s overall level. Macy’s shares, by contrast, have fallen 16.5% this year, dragged down primarily by macroeconomic concerns stemming from the Iran conflict, including higher gasoline prices squeezing consumer discretionary spending. Nevertheless, its fundamentals remain solid: same-store sales grew 2% in the fiscal fourth quarter ended January 31, and management is focusing on a strategy targeting higher-income consumers. The share price decline has made its valuation highly attractive, with the P/E ratio falling from 13 at the start of the year to 8.
Overall, this 13F filing outlines the initial contours of Berkshire’s investment style in the post-Buffett era. While Buffett’s influence persists, Abel is building his own investment framework through three core actions: cleaning up legacy positions from the previous team, re-evaluating industries Buffett once abandoned, and prioritizing current valuation attractiveness in stock selection. Whether these adjustments will enable Berkshire to uphold its six-decade investment legacy remains to be seen over the long term.
