Q1 2026 13F breakdown: Berkshire cuts holdings and builds cash

The latest round of Q1 2026 13F filings offers a rare look at how some of the world’s best investors positioned themselves during a market caught between AI enthusiasm, stretched valuations, and growing macro uncertainty.

In Q1 Warren Buffett officially handed Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO role to Greg Abel. AI spending continued to dominate the market narrative. Interest rates stayed restrictive. And despite resilient earnings, many elite investors appeared far less willing to chase momentum blindly.

The message across the filings was surprisingly consistent:

• Stick with quality

• Concentrate capital in highest-conviction ideas

• Trim cyclical exposure

• Keep cash available

• Stay selective on AI rather than buying the entire theme

Berkshire Hathaway: Greg Abel continues Berkshire’s defensive playbook

Berkshire’s equity portfolio fell from roughly $274B to $263B during the quarter. The number of holdings dropped sharply, from around 40 to just 29.

Rather than expanding into new opportunities, Berkshire simplified the portfolio and leaned even harder into its best businesses. The top five holdings, Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, and Chevron, now account for roughly 68% of the portfolio. Apple still dominates at 22%.

Berkshire massively increased Alphabet position

Berkshire boosted its Alphabet position by more than 200%, lifting the stake to roughly $15.6B and making Google its seventh-largest holding. That was arguably the most significant move in the filing, particularly as investors continue assessing how AI will impact Google’s core business model and whether today’s enormous AI spending by hyperscalers will generate durable long-term returns.

The move taps into Google’s infrastructure advantage, massive cash generation, and ability to monetise AI at scale. In a market obsessed with speculative AI stories, Berkshire has chosen of the most profitable AI enablers on earth. Classic Buffett-style logic.

Chevron gets cut hard

Berkshire reduced its Chevron stake by roughly 35%, although energy remains meaningful through both Chevron and Occidental Petroleum.

The move comes after a strong period for energy stocks, with Chevron shares up roughly 40% over the past year. Even after the reduction, Chevron remains one of Berkshire’s larger positions ranked fifth overall.

Berkshire exits several smaller positions

Amazon, Domino’s, Visa, Mastercard, UnitedHealth, and several other names were fully sold.

That clean-up matters because Berkshire has historically preferred a focused portfolio over a sprawling one. The latest filing shows the firm continuing to reduce the number of holdings while concentrating more capital in its largest positions.

New positions stand out

Berkshire initiated stakes in:

• Delta Air Lines

• Macy’s

• The New York Times

• Additional housing exposure through Lennar

The New York Times position raised eyebrows. But if you zoom out, the position still broadly aligns with Berkshire’s long-standing preference for established consumer-facing businesses with strong brands and recurring customer engagement. The investment also adds exposure outside traditional tech and financial holdings at a time when markets remain heavily concentrated around AI-related themes.

What Berkshire is signalling

The broader takeaway is still caution. At the end of the first quarter, Berkshire held nearly $400B in cash and cash equivalents while continuing to trim equities overall. The portfolio also became even more concentrated, with more capital flowing into a smaller number of holdings.

That is not the positioning of a firm finding abundant value across the market. At the same time, the filing does hint at gradual evolution inside Berkshire. While the core philosophy remains unchanged, several of the newer additions and sharper portfolio pruning suggest Greg Abel’s influence may already be showing around the edges.

The result still looks unmistakably Berkshire: disciplined, patient, and focused on durable businesses. But there are signs the post-Buffett era could bring a slightly different willingness to rotate, simplify, and selectively lean into themes like AI infrastructure and platform technology.

Pershing Square: Ackman rotates into Microsoft and doubles down on AI

Bill Ackman’s portfolio remains one of the most concentrated in the market, with just 11 holdings and roughly $13.7B under management.

This quarter, Ackman made one thing very clear: he wants exposure to the biggest AI winners, but he wants it through proven operators.

Microsoft becomes a major new position

Pershing initiated a massive Microsoft stake worth roughly $2.1B, immediately making it the fund’s fourth-largest holding.

Ackman reportedly bought aggressively during weakness, viewing the sell-off as an opportunity rather than a warning sign.

If AI becomes as transformational as bulls expect, Microsoft sits at the centre of nearly every major monetisation layer:

• Cloud infrastructure

• Enterprise software

• Productivity tools

• AI copilots

• OpenAI integration

Ackman also argued the market may be underestimating the stickiness of Microsoft’s core software ecosystem:

“In our view, investors underestimate the resilience of the M365 franchise given its deeply embedded role across enterprises and highly attractive price-value proposition. Unlike point software solutions, which may be vulnerable to disintermediation by better-performing AI alternatives, M365 is tightly integrated into the daily workflow of nearly every large enterprise and is supported by Microsoft's identity, security, compliance, and data governance infrastructure, which would be nearly impossible to replicate."

Alphabet gets slashed

At the same time, Pershing cut its Alphabet exposure by roughly 95%. That contrast is fascinating. While Berkshire moved aggressively into Google, Ackman moved sharply out. Two elite funds looked at the same company and reached very different conclusions.

Still, it is important not to overstate the signal from any single 13F move. Quarterly positioning changes do not always reflect a manager’s full long-term view, particularly around large-cap tech where sizing, risk management, liquidity, and tax considerations can all influence activity.

Even so, the divergence highlights how differently investors continue to assess AI’s long-term impact on search, digital advertising, and hyperscaler economics.

Amazon gets bigger

Pershing also increased its Amazon stake by roughly 19%, potentially taking advantage of share price weakness around the $200 level during the quarter. Amazon is now Pershing’s second-largest position.

What Ackman’s portfolio says

Pershing’s portfolio still carries significant concentration risk. When you own only 11 stocks, mistakes matter. But the filing also shows discipline. Ackman is consolidating around businesses he believes can compound through multiple economic cycles while benefiting from AI adoption regardless of short-term macro volatility. He is not chasing hype. He is concentrating into scale.

Ackman is also highly active on X, where he regularly shares investment updates, portfolio commentary, and broader market views for investors looking for additional insight into his thinking.

Druckenmiller: Growth, Biotech, and macro conviction

Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office remains more diversified than Berkshire or Pershing in terms of total holdings, but the portfolio still reflects strong thematic conviction concentrated in several key positions.

The biggest theme? Healthcare innovation.

Natera remains the dominant position

Natera continues to be Druckenmiller’s largest holding by far, accounting for roughly 21% of the portfolio.

The company sits at the centre of several powerful healthcare trends:

• Genetic testing

• Early cancer detection

• Liquid biopsy technology

• Personalised medicine

Biotech innovation continues creating long-term opportunities, especially in diagnostics and precision medicine.

TSMC stays important

Taiwan Semiconductor remained Duquesne’s third-largest holding despite a roughly 9% trim during the quarter.

The position continues to provide exposure to the semiconductor and AI infrastructure buildout, with TSMC remaining a major manufacturer of advanced chips used across the broader AI ecosystem.

Druckenmiller stays tactical

The portfolio also included increased exposure to:

• YPF, the Argentine energy company

• Brazil exposure through EWZ

• Memory stock Sandisk

• Semiconductor stock Broadcom

Taken together, the additions reflect Druckenmiller’s willingness to move across geographies and sectors where he sees improving momentum, whether that is emerging markets, energy, semiconductors, or AI-related infrastructure.

Unlike Buffett or Ackman, Druckenmiller’s portfolio often blends long-term thematic positions with shorter-term macro and tactical adjustments. That flexibility remains one of the defining features of his investing style.

The bigger picture for investors

A few themes stood out clearly across all three filings.

1. AI remains the dominant investment theme, but investors are getting selective

Nobody abandoned AI exposure. But the easy trade may be over.

The focus has shifted toward dominant platforms, infrastructure providers, and cash-generating market leaders rather than speculative fringe plays.

That distinction matters more now than it did a year ago.

2. Quality matters

These portfolios became more concentrated, not more diversified.

Investors are clearly prioritising:

• Strong balance sheets

• Durable competitive advantages

• Pricing power

• Recurring revenue

• Proven management teams

Periods of uncertainty often lead investors to place greater emphasis on quality, balance sheet strength, and business resilience.

3. Cash and caution are back

Berkshire’s enormous cash pile continues growing. Energy exposure got trimmed. Several managers reduced cyclical risk.

That does not necessarily mean a crash is coming imminently. But it does suggest many sophisticated investors believe valuations leave less room for error than markets currently imply.

Final takeaway

Across Berkshire, Pershing Square, and Duquesne Family Office, the common thread this quarter was selectivity rather than aggressive risk-taking.

Berkshire continued building cash and concentrating the portfolio into fewer positions. Ackman leaned further into a small group of large-cap technology names, while Druckenmiller maintained a more active mix of growth, macro, and international exposure.

There were also clear differences in positioning, particularly around AI and big tech. Berkshire aggressively added to Alphabet, while Pershing sharply reduced its exposure. Druckenmiller continued leaning into semiconductors, healthcare innovation, and tactical macro themes. Even among elite investors, there is no clear consensus on how the next phase of the market will unfold.

What does stand out is the continued focus on quality, concentration, and flexibility. All three portfolios reflected a willingness to hold fewer high-conviction positions while remaining selective around where new capital gets deployed.

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