Berkshire Hathaway's $10 billion investment in Alphabet will anchor an $80 billion share sale. This is Alphabet's first straight equity raise since 2005.
The move reflects the enormous cost of AI buildout. Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon doubled capex spending to $450 billion in 2025 and spending is expected to exceed $700 billion in 2026. Companies initially covered this with cash from ads, cloud, and e-commerce businesses, then began borrowing; issuing new shares is an even more expensive option.
Berkshire CEO Greg Abel is determined not to repeat the firm's past pattern of missing major tech waves. Founder Warren Buffett has said his earlier decisions to pass on Microsoft, Amazon, and Google investments "cost people a lot of money at Berkshire."
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