Greg Abel, now in charge of Berkshire Hathaway, has made a new tech bet on Bending Spoons (BSP), which Berkshire first bought for around $600 million when the company IPO'd at $29 in July. The conglomerate has now added another $330 million through a private placement this month, buying 10 million shares at $33, about a 13% discount to the previous day's price. Bending Spoons is a digital technology holding company that acquires digital-first businesses and uses AI to lift revenue and cut costs; its revenue reached $1.3 billion in 2025, up 95%, and second-quarter 2026 revenue rose 126% to $704.2 million. It bought Airtable for nearly $1.3 billion in September, agreed to buy Miro for nearly $1.4 billion, and relies on significant debt financing. The author would pass on the stock, citing the debt-financed roll-up model, aggressive deal-making and AI disruption risk, especially after the share price jumped on news of Berkshire's investment.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Related news
- Warren Buffett’s Successor, Greg Abel, Has Over 45% of Berkshire Hathaway’s $356 Billion Portfolio Invested in 3 Undeniable Winners
Greg Abel succeeded Warren Buffett as Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO after Buffett retired on December 31, keeping the company’s concentrated investment approach. More than 45% of Berkshire’s $160.6 billion in invested assets sits in three stocks: Apple ($76.73 billion, 21.6%), American Express ($46.72 billion, 13.1%) and Alphabet ($37.17 billion, 10.5%). Buffett had cut Berkshire’s Apple stake by 75% in the nine quarters before his departure, but Abel’s February letter described Apple as a concentrated holding expected to compound over decades. Abel more than tripled the Alphabet stake in the first quarter and added another $17 billion in the June-ended quarter, while Amex has been held since 1991 with a nearly 45% annual yield on cost.
- Not So Fast ! One Warren Buffett Core Positions at Berkshire Hathaway May Not Get the Heave - Ho by Successor Greg Abel After All .
After Warren Buffett retired as CEO on Dec. 31, Greg Abel took over day-to-day operations at Berkshire Hathaway and its $363 billion investment portfolio. In the first quarter, Abel exited 16 stocks and trimmed six others, including Bank of America (BAC). Since July 2024, Buffett and Abel have together sold over 549 million BofA shares, or 53% of a 1.03-billion-share position. Earlier, the stock looked vulnerable because of its premium to book value, its sensitivity to Fed rate cuts, and Abel's omission of BofA from his shareholder letter. However, after third-quarter results BofA trades at only a 30% premium to book value, and the Fed's rate-hiking cycle began on Sept. 16, which could boost its net interest income, so the narrative is shifting.
- Not So Fast! One Warren Buffett's Core Positions at Berkshire Hathaway May Not Get the Heave-Ho by Successor Greg Abel After All.
After Warren Buffett retired on Dec. 31, Greg Abel took over the day-to-day operations and the $363 billion investment portfolio at Berkshire Hathaway, disposing of 16 stocks in the first quarter and paring six others. Buffett and Abel have collectively sold more than 549 million Bank of America shares since July 2024, or 53% of a 1.03-billion-share position. Earlier, three factors suggested BofA might exit the portfolio: its valuation premium to book value, its high sensitivity to interest rates among money-center banks, and its omission from Abel's letter on companies that can compound for decades. The article argues these factors have reversed: BofA now trades at only a 30% premium to book value after its third-quarter results, and the Fed began only its fourth rate-hiking cycle of the century on Sept. 16, which should benefit BofA's net interest income.
- Warren Buffett's Successor, Greg Abel, Purchased Nearly $4.8 Billion of the Oracle of Omaha's Favorite Stock This Year -- and He Likely Just Spent Several Billion More
Greg Abel took over day-to-day control of Berkshire Hathaway and its $356 billion portfolio when Warren Buffett retired at the end of the year. In the first quarter, Abel sold 16 stocks, reduced six others and added to Alphabet, now Berkshire's No. 3 holding. The article says Berkshire spent close to $4.8 billion on buybacks of its own stock in the first six months of 2026 ($234 million in Q1 and $4.53 billion in Q2), while Buffett and Abel have deployed about $82 billion on buybacks since mid-July 2018. Berkshire traded at a 40% to 50% premium to book value for most of the third quarter, a range that has historically signaled buybacks, so the author estimates Abel likely spent billions more in that quarter.
- Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel Just Took a Page Out of Warren Buffett's Playbook, Plowing $930 Million Into a 'Wonderful Company at a Fair Price'
CEO Greg Abel has put $930 million into Bending Spoons, a company that acquires, optimizes and reinvests in digital businesses, including $600 million in its July IPO and a further $330 million later, lifting Berkshire's stake to about 4%. Bending Spoons has acquired 50 businesses since 2013, including AOL, Eventbrite and Vimeo. In the second quarter, revenue rose 126% to over $704 million, diluted EPS grew 163% to $0.28, and adjusted operating margin reached 54%. The IPO price was $29 per share and the $330 million purchase was at $33, while the stock now trades near $54.50, a market cap of nearly $35 billion and about 39 times forward earnings. The article argues this reflects Buffett's principle of buying a wonderful company at a fair price, though the stock is no longer a bargain.
- Berkshire Hathaway Outperformed the S&P 500 Over a 60-Year Period Under Warren Buffett. Here's the Stock That Could Help Continue the Streak Under Greg Abel.
From 1965 through 2025, Berkshire Hathaway under Warren Buffett delivered a 19.7% annualized return, versus a 10.5% average annual total return for the S&P 500. Greg Abel is now CEO. The article highlights Alphabet as a possible driver of future gains: Berkshire disclosed the stake in Q3 2025, and it is now its third-largest holding at 3.4% of market capitalization. Alphabet shares rose 49% in the 12 months to Oct. 13 and trade at a forward P/E of 22.8. The article also notes that Berkshire’s scale and $359 billion cash pile could weigh on returns, while Alphabet’s capex is set to total $200 billion in 2026 and free cash flow turned negative in Q2.
Related markets
Latest news
- Saudi Arabia postpones big investor conference to 2027 as Iran-backed Houthis escalate attacks on kingdom
Saudi Arabia has postponed its major annual investor conference until 2027 as Iran-backed Houthi militants escalate missile and drone attacks on the kingdom. The Future Investment Initiative had been scheduled for Riyadh from October 26 to 29. The decision follows a Houthi attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on October 10, which left at least 12 people dead and more than 300 injured. Organizers said in an email that new dates will be announced soon.
- Russia fires mysterious weapon at Kyiv, shockwaves spread; President Putin appears in rare image, drawing global attention
On the night of 18 Oct, Russia launched a coordinated strike on multiple Ukrainian targets using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and Geran UAVs, focused on Kyiv. According to TST, around 10 ballistic missiles of the Iskander-M, S-400 or KN-23 types may have been used in the first wave; an above-ground metro station on Kyiv's left bank was reported damaged, disrupting rail and metro services, and videos of blue flashes led observers to suspect a new weapon. In western Ukraine, a 330 kV transformer station near Kovel may have been targeted. Meanwhile, Putin, who rarely appears in military uniform, visited a command post and stressed establishing a “security zone” along the border; blogger Yuri Podolyaka argued Moscow no longer treats these areas as bargaining chips. Front-line correspondent Alexander Kots said the part of Donetsk still controlled by Ukraine is just over 2,700 km².
- Semiconductor Sell-Off: 5 Stocks to Buy on the Dip
The article attributes the semiconductor selloff to investor doubts about the durability of AI infrastructure spending, even as cloud companies report strong demand for AI chips. It highlights five stocks: Nvidia (forward P/E just above 13.5 on fiscal 2028 estimates), Broadcom (custom AI chips, with that revenue expected to quadruple to $230 billion over two years; forward P/E of 11), AMD (riding inference and agentic AI demand), Cerebras Systems (high risk-reward; the company claims 30 times the inference speed of GPUs) and TSMC (forward P/E of 18 on 2027 estimates).
- Tom Lee’s Bitmine Adds $30 Million in Ethereum as Buying Nears Its Finish Line
Bitmine bought another 12,535 ETH (about $30 million), lifting its holdings to 6,041,481 ETH, or 4.9% of supply and 99% of its 5% target. Chairman Tom Lee blamed the crypto selloff on a broad risk-off shift, including AI funding and safety worries, U.S.-Iran tensions, midterm jitters and rising bond yields, and called the dip a historically attractive risk-reward entry. Total holdings reached $15.1 billion as of Oct. 18, including 215 Bitcoin, $582 million in cash and marketable securities, and other investments. About 84% of its ETH (5,067,309 tokens) is staked via its MAVAN platform, with projected annualized revenue of roughly $309 million. The position is currently underwater on paper because much of it was bought at higher prices.
- Opinion: The Most Important Number in Taiwan Semiconductor's Earnings Report Was 68%
The author argues the most important figure in TSMC's Q3 report is 68%, the share of revenue from high-performance computing (HPC), which grew 22% from the prior quarter. Revenue reached $46.72 billion, up 41.2% year over year, net income rose 68.7%, and gross margin hit 66.4%. Processes at 7nm and below made up 79% of wafer revenue, with 3nm at 33% and 2nm at 8%. TSMC guided Q4 revenue to $52.3–54.3 billion and expects roughly 44% full-year growth in U.S. dollars. The author remains bullish, saying ongoing demand for advanced AI chips should keep profits rising.
- Why Meta's Q3 earnings could be a little hard to interpret
Meta is reporting its third-quarter earnings after the market closes Wednesday, and Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi says the report will be hard to interpret. Recent good news on Meta's AI products, including new models and an AI agent, may not appear directly in the results but will likely be discussed on the earnings call. The key uncertainty is how investors will react if Meta raises its capex outlook again: it could be seen as fueling those products, or as overspending on offerings not yet reflected in financials. Sozzi expects the market to give Meta the benefit of the doubt on higher capex, as long as the increase does not shock investors.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.