Does Berkshire’s big tech bet signal a new risk tolerance in Omaha?

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Just one week after Berkshire Hathaway’s revelation last Friday that it purchased 17.8 million Class A shares of Google’s parent, Alphabet, in the third quarter (July-September), that position has increased in market value by $415 million to almost $5.35 billion.

GOOGL gained 8.4% this week while its biggest tech rivals fell significantly as Nvidia’s strong earnings failed to overcome fears of an “AI bubble.”

Alphabet shares started the week with a 3.1% boost on Monday, apparently in reaction to the news of Berkshire’s purchase.

Wednesday’s release of Google’s new Gemini 3 AI model, which is receiving positive reviews, gave the stock another push higher.

(Google’s AI momentum is reportedly beginning to worry Sam Altman at OpenAI.)

While the full evaluation of the move obviously can’t be made until months or years from now, someone in Omaha is probably smiling right now.

Warren Buffett is getting the credit in a lot of headlines, as he usually does, with many publications assuming he is responsible for everything Berkshire does.

We know that’s not the case, however, since portfolio managers Ted Weschler and Todd Combs are able to act as “free agents.”

As I noted last week, Alphabet doesn’t feel like Buffett’s “kind of stock.”

CNBC.com’s Yun Li writes the investment “likely” was the work of Weschler or Coombs, noting they have been behind many of Berkshire’s “tech-leaning” investments, including its Amazon stake, now worth $2.2 billion.

(Even before that position was first disclosed in 2019, Buffett went out of his way to tell CNBC’s Becky Quick it wasn’t his decision and “no personality change has taken place.”)

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Nir Kaissar recalls Buffett’s famous refusal to invest in a business he doesn’t fully understand, which kept him out of the internet bubble in the late 1990s, calling AI “orders of magnitude more complicated than selling books or pet food online.”

He adds, “Combine opaque technology with premium valuations, and you’re sure to lose Buffett.”

Kaissar says he has the impression CEO-designate Greg Abel may have just shown us a “very different approach than Berkshire’s shareholders are used to – notably, a new willingness to pay more now for potentially higher growth down the road, a chance Buffett rarely took, if ever.”

Berkshire has not responded to my midday email asking for clarification on who decided to make the Alphabet purchase. The company almost never reveals who bought what.

Warren…