Berkshire Hathaway's new CEO Greg Abel reduced the portfolio from 39 stocks to 26 in Q1, making major new bets in airlines and retail—sectors where Warren Buffett has admitted past mistakes.

Abel took a $2.6 billion stake in Delta Air Lines (over 6% of the airline's stock) and a $55 million stake in Macy's during his first quarter as CEO. Berkshire fully exited 15 positions and almost all of its Constellation Brands stake during the quarter.

Buffett has previously called airline economics a 'bottomless pit' and described his 1989 US Airways investment as an 'unforced error' and 'terrible mistake.' He also lost money on airline investments in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Buffett has noted that retailing is a tough business with little moat, and Berkshire's last department store investment was in 1966.

Abel's largest move was buying about $10 billion more worth of Alphabet shares than the Delta purchase, which was his second-largest acquisition. He also tripled his stake in The New York Times after starting a position in Q4.