Alphabet Soars After Berkshire Reveals $5B Stake

Alphabet’s shares surged over 5% after Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a multibillion-dollar stake, signaling one of Warren Buffett’s rare and final big bets on a tech giant.

The market reaction

• Premarket jump: Alphabet stock rose 5.2–6.1% in premarket and after-hours trading.
• Current price: $284.76 per share, up 3.02% from the previous close of $276.41.
• Investor signal: The rally reflects confidence in Buffett’s endorsement despite his historic caution toward high-growth tech.

Berkshire Hathaway’s stake

• Position size: $4.3–$4.93 billion stake, totaling 17.9 million shares.
• Portfolio rank: Now Berkshire’s 10th-largest U.S. equity holding.
• Timing: Coincides with leadership transition to Greg Abel, marking one of Buffett’s last major investment calls.

Portfolio shifts

• Apple trim: Berkshire reduced its Apple holdings, selling billions in shares.
• Diversification: Apple remains the largest holding, but exposure is being balanced.
• Banking move: Berkshire also cut its stake in Bank of America.

Strategic context

• Buffett’s tech stance: Historically cautious, but Alphabet’s advertising, AI, and cloud dominance proved compelling.
• AI capex: Investment arrives amid heavy spending on data centers and chips.
• Past regret: Buffett previously acknowledged missing Google early despite Geico’s ad insights.

Why it matters

• Symbolic shift: Reflects how AI and digital platforms are central to modern value investing.
• Alphabet boost: Buffett’s seal of approval may strengthen investor confidence during AI buildout.
• Berkshire pivot: Balances traditional value plays with future-facing bets as leadership transitions.

Berkshire Hathaway Invests $300 Mn in Paytm for 2.9% Stake

Noida-based One97 Communications, the parent entity of India’s largest digital payments firm, Paytm, has received $300 million (Rs 21.79 billion) in fresh funding from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The deal is the Warren Buffett-led firm’s first investment in the country.

IndianWeb2, via ET, had first reported in last month that Warren Buffet-owned firm is set to buy a stake in Paytm, India’s largest payment services provider, and talks with Berkshire Hathaway have been on since early February this year to raise about $358 million (~ Rs 2,000-2,500 crore) at a valuation of about $10-12 billion.

According to regulatory filings sourced from Paper.vc, One97 Communications issued 1.7 million shares to BH International Holdings on September 27. Post the investment, Berkshire Hathaway will have around 2.9 per cent holding in the Indian firm.

Paytm’s value post the investment will stand at Rs 731 billion ($10 billion).

Earlier this month, Berkshire Hathaway had confirmed it was investing in Paytm, but clarified that Buffett himself wasn't involved in making the deal. The investment is yet to be officially announced by either Berkshire Hathaway or Paytm.

“We feel both excited and humbled by this endorsement. Berkshire’s experience in financial services, and long-term investment horizon is going to be a huge advantage in Paytm’s journey of bringing 500 million Indians to the mainstream economy through financial inclusion,” Paytm boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma had said in a statement soon after.

The investment comes at a time when Paytm is going up against global giants Google and Facebook-owned WhatsApp. Both the US giants have either launched or are in the process of launching their digital payment products built on top of India’s indigenous payment system UPI.

The fund raise comes close in time of funding of US-based payment startup Stripe, which has just raised $245 million, valuing it at whopping $20 billion. Post the funding, Stripe is all set to enter India and Southeast Asia. The startup has already launched its engineering hub at Singapore.

Source - Business Standard

Berkshire Hathaway Invests $300 Mn in Paytm for 2.9% Stake

Noida-based One97 Communications, the parent entity of India’s largest digital payments firm, Paytm, has received $300 million (Rs 21.79 billion) in fresh funding from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The deal is the Warren Buffett-led firm’s first investment in the country.

IndianWeb2, via ET, had first reported in last month that Warren Buffet-owned firm is set to buy a stake in Paytm, India’s largest payment services provider, and talks with Berkshire Hathaway have been on since early February this year to raise about $358 million (~ Rs 2,000-2,500 crore) at a valuation of about $10-12 billion.

According to regulatory filings sourced from Paper.vc, One97 Communications issued 1.7 million shares to BH International Holdings on September 27. Post the investment, Berkshire Hathaway will have around 2.9 per cent holding in the Indian firm.

Paytm’s value post the investment will stand at Rs 731 billion ($10 billion).

Earlier this month, Berkshire Hathaway had confirmed it was investing in Paytm, but clarified that Buffett himself wasn't involved in making the deal. The investment is yet to be officially announced by either Berkshire Hathaway or Paytm.

“We feel both excited and humbled by this endorsement. Berkshire’s experience in financial services, and long-term investment horizon is going to be a huge advantage in Paytm’s journey of bringing 500 million Indians to the mainstream economy through financial inclusion,” Paytm boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma had said in a statement soon after.

The investment comes at a time when Paytm is going up against global giants Google and Facebook-owned WhatsApp. Both the US giants have either launched or are in the process of launching their digital payment products built on top of India’s indigenous payment system UPI.

The fund raise comes close in time of funding of US-based payment startup Stripe, which has just raised $245 million, valuing it at whopping $20 billion. Post the funding, Stripe is all set to enter India and Southeast Asia. The startup has already launched its engineering hub at Singapore.

Source - Business Standard

Warren Buffet's Firm To Invest $286-358 Mn in PayTM for 3-4% Stake

Popular American business magnate Warren Buffet's multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway is reportedly in talks to invest about US$286 to $358 million (~ Rs 2,000-2,500 crore) in Paytm's parent firm One97 Communications, marking his first direct investment in India.

The deal is likely to be announced within the next couple of weeks and will value PayTM at over $10 billion, giving the Noida-based startup more uplift, that already counts China’s Alibaba Group Holdings and Japan’s Softbank as its major backers.

“Berkshire is in talks to pick up a 3-4% stake in the company and it is being done through a primary subscription of shares,” said the Economic Times report citing a person familiar with the development.

The report further said that the transaction was discussed at the board meeting of Paytm held a few weeks ago. But a deal, including the size of the investment, has not been finalized yet.

According to a second person cited in the report, Berkshire Hathaway is impressed by the scale that Paytm has been able to build in a short period of time. They realize that technology companies go through a cycle of losses before they start generating cash.

If this deal goes through then this will also be Berkshire Hathaway's first investment in a privately-held technology company in the world. In the past, Berkshire Hathaway has selectively invested in some publicly listed tech companies, most notably International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. and Apple. Berkshire recently exited IBM, but still owns Apple stock.

One of Berkshire’s key fund managers, Todd Combs, who is also seen as a potential chief investment officer at the company, is leading the transaction, the newspaper reported.

Last month, PayTM conducted 5 billion transactions worth $50 billion in gross transaction value (GTV) on an annualised basis based on its performance in June. According to Registrar of Companies (RoC) filings, PayTM saw total income increase by 38% to Rs 828 crore with losses of Rs 899.6 crore in the year ended March 2017.

In the same month, it was also reported that PayTM is close to announce its new mobile digital payments service for Japan in collaboration with Softbank.

In May, Paytm's parent, One97 Communication announced that its revenue grew to Rs 829 crore for the financial year 2017, up from Rs 598 crore in the year before, even as its losses narrowed for the same period.

One97 Communications, the parent company owns 49% in Paytm Payments Bank with the remaining stake held by its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma in his personal capacity as per regulations.

About, Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet promoted MNC traces its roots to a textile manufacturing company established by Oliver Chace in 1839 as the Valley Falls Company in United States' Valley Falls, Rhode Island. In 1929, the Company merged with the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company established in 1889, in Massachusetts.
Eventually, Buffett owned 31.7% aggregate voting power of Berkshire's shares outstanding, as of July 2016.

Investments of Berkshire Hathaway

As of March 2017, 65% of Berkshire's equity securities were concentrated in five companies -- American Express Company ($12.0 billion), Apple Inc. ($19.2 billion), The Coca-Cola Company ($17.0 billion), International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) ($11.2 billion), and Wells Fargo & Company ($27.8 billion).

On March 25, 2011, Berkshire Hathaway made its first foray into the Indian insurance sector with its non-direct subsidiary BerkshireInsurance.com in the presence of Warren Buffett himself.

References - Wikipedia.org/Berkshire_Hathaway