A Canadian banker takes the wheel at Berkshire — and Warren Buffett says he's already doing it better than he ever could

Warren Buffett spent six decades building Berkshire into one of the world’s most valuable companies before passing the reins to Abel at the start of 2026. His assessment was direct. “Greg did that faster than I could have done it, smoother than I could have done it, and I never talked to the CEO. He has launched,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick.

For Canadian investors who follow Berkshire — and there are many — this moment matters. Abel is one of their own: a kid from Edmonton who delivered flyers, collected bottles for cash and earned a commerce degree from the University of Alberta before rising to the top of the investing world.

The two deals that defined the Abel era

The first move was the Taylor Morrison acquisition — a classic value play. Berkshire agreed to pay US$72.50 a share in an all-cash deal, a 24% premium over the homebuilder’s previous closing price. Abel described Taylor Morrison as “a best-in-class national homebuilder” and hinted that he may combine it with Berkshire’s existing Clayton Homes subsidiary to create a unified homebuilding operation.

Some Berkshire investors reacted with enthusiasm. Check Capital Management President Steven Check told Reuters the move was “encouraging” and that investors had been “waiting for Greg to do his thing, beyond Warren Buffett’s shadow.”

The second deal was less expected: a US$10 billion private investment in Alphabet as part of the tech giant’s US$84.75 billion equity raise that would help fund artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure — including data centres, chips and AI model development. Abel was able to negotiate a 6.5% discount through a private placement rather than buying shares on the open market.

This move by Abel course-corrects a well-documented mistake of Buffett’s. In 2019, he told investors he “blew it” by not acting earlier and investing in Google, pointing to the company’s reliable ad revenue as the missed opportunity. The Alphabet deal suggests Abel shares that view — but he moved faster.

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Are Buffett’s beliefs behind Abel’s purchases?

The speed and scale of Abel’s moves might seem a departure from Berkshire’s famously cautious, cash-hoarding culture. But a closer look shows both deals are consistent with Berkshire’s long-term approach: Find solid businesses with strong competitive positions, then act when the price is right.

The Taylor Morrison buy fits Berkshire’s preference for buying into cyclical industries when they’re at a low point. The homebuilding sector has been sluggish in recent years, weighed down by high mortgage rates and stubborn affordability problems — a phenomenon on both sides of the border. For investors who believe housing demand will eventually bounce back, buying a leading builder during a downturn is exactly the kind of contrarian bet Berkshire has made many times before.

The Alphabet investment is harder to call a classic value play, given how expensive AI stocks have become. But Alphabet has qualities Berkshire typically looks for: a dominant market position, a strong balance sheet and a core advertising business that generates steady, reliable revenue.

As of March 2026, Berkshire already held Alphabet as one of its top holdings. The new US$10 billion investment deepens that commitment significantly.

The cash problem — and what it means for investors

Despite the two headline-grabbing deals, Berkshire’s spending barely dented its reserves. The company held US$397.4 billion (C$554.4B) in cash as of March 31, 2026 — up 6.5% from December 31, 2025. At that scale, the US$16.8 billion invested in Alphabet and Taylor Morrison (C$23.4 billion) represents only 4.2% of the total cash pile.

Critics have long argued that Berkshire’s reluctance to put its cash to work has held back the stock’s performance compared to the broader market. Berkshire Class B shares were down roughly 1.56% for the year as of July 8, compared to a gain of about 9% to 10% for the S&P 500 over the same period. CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert put the challenge bluntly, asking: “If Berkshire isn’t buying back their stock, why should you?”

The real test of the Abel era will be whether Berkshire can deploy its enormous cash reserves — and whether the returns justify holding its shares over a low-cost index fund.

What this means for Canadian investors

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) is one of the most widely held U.S. stocks among Canadians, and Abel’s Edmonton roots have given the company an unusually strong following north of the border.