Berkshire's Abel sours on some of Warren Buffett's picks, while betting big on Delta

MW Berkshire's Abel sours on some of Warren Buffett's picks, while betting big on Delta

By Claudia Assis

Berkshire Hathaway also extended its bets on Google and the New York Times

A fresh bet on Delta Air Lines marks Berkshire Hathaway's return to U.S. airlines, as it had closed its positions in the industry six years ago.

The start of the Greg Abel era at Berkshire Hathaway seems to have meant the unwinding a few of Warren Buffett's major bets - and time for a new vote of confidence in a major U.S. airline.

Buffett retired as Berkshire CEO at the end of December, and before that he had appointed Abel as his successor at the conglomerate.

According to a securities filing late Friday detailing Berkshire's $(BRK.B)$ $(BRK.A)$ stock holdings at the end of the first quarter, it sold off its stake in the company that owns the Major League Baseball team Atlanta Braves $(BATRA)$, which it had held for more than two years.

Berkshire's fresh picks included a new stake in Delta Air Lines $(DAL)$ worth about $2.8 billion. Alongside United Airlines $(UAL)$, Delta shares the status of dominant U.S. airline catering to the well-off, boosting its bottom line by offering premium services and perks. Buffett had sold the conglomerate's stakes in the U.S. airline industry at the start of the 2020 pandemic.

Delta was also a new stake for David Tepper's Appaloosa hedge fund. Shares of the airline rallied more than 3% in the extended session Friday, reversing a loss in the regular session.

Berkshire also sold off Buffett's 2025 bet on Pool Corp. $(POOL)$, a wholesale distributor of swimming-pool equipment and other outdoor-living products, and its stake in Domino's Pizza $(DPZ)$. The conglomerate also fully ended its investment in Amazon.com (AMZN); it had started to unload Amazon shares late last year, according to a February filing.

Securities regulators require all institutional investment managers holding more than $100 million in certain securities to disclose their positions in filings called 13Fs. The disclosures offer a window into a firm's stock and ETF holdings at the end of a quarter, and into some of its possible strategies.

Berkshire went deeper into its investments in Google parent Alphabet $(GOOGL)$ $(GOOG)$ and in the New York Times $(NYT)$, which were novelties for the company last year. And among its new picks, it opened a new, albeit relative small, stake in Macy's (M).(M).

-Claudia Assis

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 15, 2026 17:41 ET (21:41 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.