Berkshire Hathaway Trims Amazon Stake by 77% as Buffett Transitions Leadership

Warren Buffett officially retired as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway on December 31, 2025, passing leadership to long-time executive Greg Abel. As the firm transitions, recent regulatory filings reveal a substantial shift in the company's investment strategy, characterized by a aggressive reduction in mega-cap technology holdings. Most notably, Berkshire Hathaway liquidated approximately 77% of its position in Amazon (AMZN), selling 7.724 million shares. This divestment represents a market value of nearly $1.7 billion. While Amazon continues to lead in e-commerce and cloud infrastructure via AWS, the sale suggests a lack of confidence in the company's current valuation metrics. Analysts suggest the exit was driven by the firm's strict adherence to value investing. With the S&P 500 trading at historically high Shiller P/E ratios, Buffett and Abel likely viewed Amazon's aggressive spending forecasts for AI data centers as a risk to near-term profitability, despite the growth potential of generative AI. This action was not an isolated event but part of a broader trend of profit-taking. In the 13 quarters leading up to his retirement, Buffett was a net seller of equities, offloading a total of $187 billion in assets, including significant portions of Apple and Bank of America. However, the retirement was not marked solely by exits. Buffett allocated over $4 billion into a company that maintains a virtual monopoly over global internet search traffic, signaling that Berkshire remains interested in dominant market players provided the entry price is attractive.