Warren Buffett Watch: It's Buffett, not Abel, who appears to be calling the shots on stocks

Cnbc · Aug 22, 2026 · 1349 words · By Alex Crippen

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What to know about Warren Buffett Watch: It's Buffett, not Abel, who appears to be calling the shots on stocks

(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway.

Claims checked 17

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway.

Why it matters

You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.) Buffett, not Abel, appears to still be calling the shots on stocks Two weeks ago, Berkshire Hathaway reported its huge cash reserves declined by billions of dollars during the second…

Common ground

It appeared to many, including me, that Greg Abel was making his mark as the company's new CEO by putting a "big chunk of Berkshire's cash to work." In the wake of last week's disclosure of exactly what it had in its equity portfolio as of June 30, it now…

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Warren Buffett Watch: It's Buffett, not Abel, who appears to be calling the shots on stocks?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Berkshire's Q2 purchase of $10 billion in Alphabet shares directly from the company came after Abel gave a "rapid signoff" to the deal?
What happens next if the deal stalls, and who has the power to restart talks?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/22/warren-buffett-not-greg-abel-appears-to-still-be…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 17 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 7

check_circle Corroborated 4

verified Verified By Reference 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

info Single Source 2

verified

Claim 1: “Berkshire's Q2 purchase of $10 billion in Alphabet shares directly from the company came after Abel gave a "rapid signoff" to the deal”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of generic ChatGPT landing pages and unrelated Wikipedia entries for Kroger and Microsoft. There is no factual evidence regarding a $10 billion purchase or Greg Abel's signoff in the provided text.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Kroger Co. is an American retail corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the Un…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroger

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of subsidiaries, equities, cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments owned by multinational holding company Berkshire Hathaway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Berksh…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company became influential in the rise of personal computers through software like Windo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 2: “A federal appeals court in St. Louis is upholding the 2024 settlement of a class action antitrust suit against Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary HomeServices of America and the National Association of Realtors”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence consists of Google Translate pages and unrelated Wikipedia entries for the St. Louis Cardinals and the city of St. Louis. No information regarding a court ruling on a real estate antitrust settlement is present.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 St. Louis Cardinals season was the 143rd season for the St. Louis Cardinals, a Major League Baseball franchise in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the 133rd season for the Cardinals in the Nationa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_St._Louis_Cardinals_seaso…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — St. Louis (officially the City of St. Louis) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — St. Louis Lambert International Airport (IATA: STL, ICAO: KSTL, FAA LID: STL), commonly referred to as Lambert Field or simply Lambert, is the primary international airport serving St. Louis, Missouri…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Lambert_Internationa…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “Berkshire market capitalization: $1,061,294,568,527”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 4: “HomeServices agreed to pay $250 million of a more than $1 billion settlement to resolve claims that long-standing rules over the splitting of real estate commissions kept them artificially high.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for this claim.

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Claim 5: “Warren Buffett revealed in a CNBC interview last month he had "initiated" Berkshire's Alphabet investment.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web sources confirm that Warren Buffett stated in a CNBC interview that he personally initiated the investment in Alphabet.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshire_Hathaway

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Warren Edward Buffett ( BUFF-it; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who is the chairman emeritus and former CEO of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 6: “Abel has been spending some of Berkshire's cash with his $6.8 billion acquisition of Taylor Morrison Home, although it didn't close until after Q2 ended.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm Greg Abel acquired Taylor Morrison Home for $6.8 billion and that the deal closed after Q2 (specifically mentioned as closing in Q3 or expected in the second half of the year).

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas will be held on November 3, 2026, to elect the thirty-eight U.S. representatives from the state of Texas, one from each of the state'…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_House_of_Re…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Revival is a supernatural horror noir television series based on the American comic book series of the same name by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton, and published by Image Comics. Created by Aaron B. Koont…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revival_(TV_series)

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 7: “That stock [Alphabet] first appeared in the portfolio in last year's third quarter.”

SINGLE SOURCE

While search results mention portfolio trackers and 13F filings for Q3 2021, none of the provided evidence explicitly confirms that Alphabet first appeared in the portfolio in the third quarter of the previous year.

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web search NEUTRAL — Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker cnbc.com Publication Year: 2019.
https://www.cnbc.com/berkshire-hathaway-portfolio/

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web search NEUTRAL — Berkshire hathaway inc. Berkshire Hathaway is re-engineering small business insurance. Click here to find out more. Reports. Year. 1st Quarter.
https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/reports.html

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web search NEUTRAL — (Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Update). New Money 84,807 views 4 years ago. Copy link.84,807 views • Nov 17, 2021 • #berkshirehathaway #warrenbuffett. Warren Buffett's 13F for Q3 2021 has just been rel…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqDDOJDfqQE

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Claim 8: “BRK.B stock price: $495.82”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 9: “As of June 30, the end of the quarter, the Alphabet shares had a market value of $37.77 billion, $5.26 billion ahead of Coca-Cola's $32.51 billion.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results explicitly state that Berkshire's Alphabet holding was valued at approximately $37.8 billion (specifically $37.77 billion in the claim) following a $10 billion private placement.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was created through a restructuring of Google on October 2, 2015, and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_Inc.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beve…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PepsiCo

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in January 1892, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coca-Cola_Company

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 10: “The roughly $17 billion increase in Berkshire Hathaway's Alphabet stake during the second quarter made Google's parent the third largest holding in the company's equity portfolio, displacing Coca-Cola in that slot.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The evidence provided for this claim consists of Google login and Gmail pages, which contain no information about Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio rankings or Coca-Cola.

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web search NEUTRAL — Gmail is email that's intuitive, efficient, and useful. 15 GB of storage, less spam, and mobile access.
https://mail.google.com/mail

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web search NEUTRAL — Not your computer? Use a private browsing window to sign in. Learn more about using Guest mode Next Create account
https://accounts.google.com/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Bukan komputer Anda? Gunakan jendela penjelajahan rahasia untuk login. Pelajari lebih lanjut cara menggunakan Mode tamu Berikutnya Buat akun
https://accounts.google.com/login?hl=id

schedule

Claim 11: “The settlement came after a 2023 jury trial found the defendants liable for $1.78 billion in damages.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 12: “Berkshire Cash as of June 30: $365.5 billion”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 13: “Berkshire Hathaway reported its huge cash reserves declined by billions of dollars during the second quarter”

CORROBORATED

The Daily Hodl reports that cash reserves were $364.7 billion at the end of June, down 4% from the previous quarter, which constitutes a decline of billions of dollars.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Berkshire Hathaway is re-engineering small business insurance. Click here to find out more.
https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/reports.html

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web search NEUTRAL — Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments held by Berkshire reached a record high of approximately $381.7 billion at the end of September. This marks a substantial increase from the prior quar…
https://newyorkroundup.com/berkshire-hathaway-cash-reserve-3…

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web search NEUTRAL — Berkshire Hathaway held $364.7 billion in cash and Treasury bills at the end of June, down 4% from the previous quarter after accounting for amounts owed on some of its short-term government securitie…
https://dailyhodl.com/2026/08/09/berkshire-hathaway-cash-res…

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Claim 14: “Berkshire repurchased $4.5 billion of its shares in Q2 2026.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 15: “The unit's parent, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, still faces a separate proposed antitrust class action suit over real estate commissions after a judge ruled last April that it is not covered by the HomeServices settlement.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 16: “BRK.A stock price: $743,500.00”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 17: “This week's ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backs a lower court's approval of the settlement.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for this claim.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.