OMAHA, Nebraska, September 6, 2026, 3:54 a.m. CDT — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B; NYSE:BRK.A) negotiated a 6.5% discount on a $10 billion Alphabet purchase. That cushion is now gone. Friday’s closing prices value the block at about $9.625 billion.
The calculation uses the exact share terms in Alphabet’s offering document. Berkshire paid $351.81 and $348.20; Friday’s closes were $338.46 and $335.31.
The resulting $375 million paper shortfall is small beside Berkshire’s balance sheet. Still, it tests Greg Abel’s capital allocation after his first detailed account arrived this week.
The discount has not protected the block
Private-placement cost compared with the September 4 close.
Transaction terms: Alphabet’s SEC filing. Closing prices: GOOGL and GOOG. Mark-to-market calculation by TS2.
Abel told CNBC on Wednesday that Warren Buffett began buying Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL; NASDAQ:GOOG) about 15 months ago; Abel handled the later block. He recommended both its size and the “6.5 percent discount,” then called Buffett.
The private placement is only part of the position; Berkshire’s June 30 holdings report lists 105.98 million Alphabet shares worth $37.764 billion. If the share count was unchanged, Friday’s prices mark that whole stake near $35.784 billion.
Berkshire shares did not follow the AI excitement
BRK.B daily closes across the latest 23 U.S. sessions.
The latest close was 2.5% below August 5 and 4.4% under the period high. Last regular trade at . Price record: S&P Global data via StockAnalysis.
Class B shares closed at $506.03, down 0.4% Friday. They gained just 0.2% over the interview’s final two sessions. The market has treated the disclosure as detail rather than a new earnings driver.
Abel described a second AI position that Berkshire owns outright. He said “energy would be the constraint” on data-center expansion, which Berkshire Hathaway Energy can earn from solving.
The utility group’s 2026 investor presentation gives that claim scale: its utilities have contracted about 11,000 megawatts of data-center demand. Only 2,200 megawatts reached peak use last year.
Two AI exposures run on different clocks
One reprices every second. The other must be built and regulated.
Holdings: Berkshire’s Form 13F. Power figures: BHE investor presentation. Current mark calculated by TS2 and assumes no later trades.
The contracted amount is not current revenue. BHE says customers historically need four to eight years to use most reserved capacity. Its 2030 peak-load projection reaches 4,500 to 5,700 megawatts.
BHE earned $891 million in the second quarter, up 26.9% from a year earlier. U.S. utility earnings rose 37.6% to $597 million, according to Berkshire’s quarterly report.
Power growth also brings debt and construction risk: BHE had $61.8 billion of borrowings at June 30. Its subsidiaries issued $4.6 billion of term debt during the first half.
Abel set a strict condition in the interview. Existing customers should not subsidize hyperscalers. That stance protects ratepayers, while tying project returns to state approvals and enforceable contracts.
The balance sheet absorbs the mark
Scale against insurance-and-other cash and Treasury bills at June 30.
Balance-sheet figures: Berkshire Q2 filing. Friday Alphabet value estimated by TS2.
The cash makes a $375 million mark nearly immaterial; the larger question is return on the next dollar. Alphabet must turn expensive compute into cash flow, while BHE converts reserved megawatts into approved assets and billed demand.
Wall Street still sees room in Berkshire shares; UBS analyst Brian Meredith raised his 12-month Class B target to $604 in August. That is 19.4% above Friday’s close, and his case emphasized capital deployment.
The next evidence will arrive in different places. Alphabet prices reveal the liquid result each day. Utility filings, capital spending and load ramps will reveal whether Berkshire’s slower AI wager earns its allowed returns.
The risks cut both ways: a deeper Alphabet decline would hit reported investment gains. Delayed data centers could strand grid spending, while regulators may reject contract terms or limit returns.
NYSE trading is closed Monday for Labor Day under the 2026 exchange calendar. Berkshire’s next regular session begins Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
