STOCKS | Berkshire's Alphabet Stake Shrinks by More Than $10 Billion as Coca-Cola Rises to No. 3

Berkshire Hathaway's Alphabet stake fell from $40 billion at its early-August peak to $29.6 billion on Friday, a decline of $10.4 billion. According to Sina Finance, Coca-Cola's value in Berkshire's portfolio rose nearly 16% from a late-July low of $32.5 billion to $37.6 billion, making it the company's third-largest stock holding; Alphabet ranked fourth. Alphabet lost about $500 billion in market value on Thursday as its shares fell nearly 13%, their steepest one-day decline since the company went public in 2004. Its third-quarter report showed negative free cash flow of $9.1 billion, compared with analysts' expected negative $2.7 billion, while search revenue missed expectations for a second consecutive quarter. Berkshire also sold $69 million of DaVita shares on Tuesday. The quarterly sale was made under a 2024 agreement capping Berkshire's stake at 45%; DaVita's share buybacks require Berkshire to sell shares to maintain that limit.