Berkshire exits UnitedHealth, Aon, Visa, Mastercard in 1st quarter with new CEO

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. dropped a significant number of companies from its investment portfolio during the first quarter of 2026 as new CEO Greg Abel took the reins from the legendary Warren Buffett.

Berkshire completely exited a slate of companies, including managed care behemoth UnitedHealth Group Inc., insurance broker Aon PLC, and credit card giants Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc.

Berkshire's position in Visa had been worth roughly $2.91 billion as of the close of 2025, while its holdings in Mastercard had amounted to about $2.28 billion. As of the end of 2025, Visa had been Berkshire's 13th-largest holding in its overall investment portfolio and Mastercard had ranked as the 15th largest.

The UnitedHealth stake had been comprised of about 5 million shares worth roughly $1.66 billion at the end of last year. Berkshire's holdings in Aon had totaled about $1.27 billion.

After nearly 60 years at the helm, Buffett departed from Berkshire management at the end of 2025. His successor, Abel, has been with the company for about 25 year. Analysts have largely expected he will follow the path laid out by Buffett as the company heads into a new era.

More moves

Delta Air Lines Inc. and Macy's Inc. were the two new stakes for the quarter, though this was not the first time Berkshire took a position in the former.

At the end of 2016 Berkshire started making bets on the transportation or airline industry with positions worth at least $2 billion in several airlines, including Delta. When the COVID-19 pandemic spread in mid-2020, Berkshire withdrew all its bets on airlines. The pickup of approximately 39.8 million shares of Delta valued at about $2.65 billion as of the end of the first quarter marks the first time since the pandemic that Berkshire has chosen to invest in any airline.

Berkshire also completely exited its position in Amazon.com Inc. The tech giant had been a part of Berkshire's investments since the first quarter of 2019. Berkshire's Amazon stake had been worth about $525.4 million as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2025.

Though the ballclub now sits atop the Major League Baseball standings, in Berkshire's book the Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc. are out. Berkshire struck out all of its stake in the team during the first quarter, which had been worth about $4.6 million as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2025.

Berkshire also exited its holdings in Pool Corp. and Domino's Pizza Inc.