Berkshire Hathaway shares have climbed to their highest closing levels since Warren Buffett announced plans to step down as chief executive, signalling a recovery in investor confidence as his successor, Greg Abel, begins putting the conglomerate’s substantial cash reserves to work.
Berkshire’s Class A shares closed Friday at $798,000, just 1.4% below their all-time closing high of $809,350. Class B shares ended the session at $532.02, also 1.4% below their record close of $539.80.
The rebound marks a significant turnaround from the uncertainty that followed Buffett’s announcement at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in May 2025. Both share classes had reached record closing prices the day before he revealed that he intended to leave the chief executive role at the end of that year. Over the following three months, the shares lost more than 14% as investors questioned whether Berkshire would retain the premium associated with Buffett’s leadership.
Although the recovery from the shares’ August 2025 lows has been uneven, recent gains suggest that investors are becoming more comfortable with the company’s direction under Abel. Berkshire shares advanced by more than 1% on Friday, recovering from a decline that ended a 10-session winning streak during which both classes gained around 5%.
Several factors appear to be supporting the rally. Berkshire repurchased $4.5 billion of its own shares during the second quarter of 2026 and has added investments in companies including Alphabet, Taylor Morrison Home and Bending Spoons.
The company nevertheless retains an enormous cash reserve. Its cash and equivalents stood at approximately $365.5 billion at the end of June, or $359.2 billion after excluding railroad cash and subtracting Treasury bills payable. Higher short-term interest rates could help Berkshire earn more on these holdings, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Meyer Shields, while the cash pile continues to signal financial patience under its new leadership.
Berkshire has also benefited from favourable conditions in parts of its existing portfolio. Its roughly $19 billion investment in Chevron has gained as oil prices have risen, with the energy company’s shares reaching a record close on Friday. Berkshire’s energy-related subsidiaries have also benefited from the stronger environment.
Meanwhile, investors shifting away from highly valued artificial intelligence and technology stocks may be turning towards established businesses. Coca-Cola, a long-standing Berkshire holding valued at approximately $37.6 billion, also closed Friday at a record high. The position has gained 34% this year and added $2.4 billion in value since the previous Friday, overtaking Alphabet to become Berkshire’s third-largest publicly traded stock holding.
Berkshire’s Class B shares have also narrowed their performance gap with the S&P 500. After trailing the benchmark by 17.5 percentage points on June 1, they were 6 percentage points behind for the year.
One of the most striking developments has been Berkshire’s investment in Bending Spoons, an Italian technology company that acquires digital businesses and uses artificial intelligence to reduce costs before pursuing further acquisitions. The strategy differs from Berkshire’s traditional emphasis on established businesses trading at attractive valuations.
Bending Spoons disclosed that Berkshire had invested a further $330 million to purchase 10 million newly issued shares at $33 each. The transaction price represented a discount to the company’s previous closing price of $37.86. Following the announcement, Bending Spoons shares surged to an intraday high of $58.56 on Wednesday before closing 41% higher at $53.46. They ended Friday at $47.07.
The company also revealed that Berkshire had invested $600 million during its initial public offering in July, bringing its total investment to $930 million. Assuming the initial shares were purchased at the $29 IPO price, Berkshire’s holding would amount to approximately 30.7 million shares, worth more than $1.4 billion at Friday’s closing price. That would represent a paper gain of around 55.3%, or nearly $141 million.
The precise size of Berkshire’s stake and the identity of the person responsible for the investment remain unclear. Bending Spoons said the new transaction brought Berkshire’s ownership to 4%, although calculations based on figures supplied by the company suggest a stake of approximately 4.5%.
The investment has attracted attention because of Bending Spoons’ high valuation and acquisition-driven business model. Yet Morningstar analyst Greggory Warren views the purchase, alongside Berkshire’s substantial Alphabet holding, as evidence that the conglomerate is expanding beyond its traditional investment comfort zone to find new uses for its capital.
For Berkshire shareholders, the central question is whether Abel can sustain the company’s investment performance while deploying its vast reserves. The latest share-price recovery offers an encouraging signal, but the longer-term test will be whether the new leadership can turn capital allocation into durable returns.
