Michael Burry Calls Time on Berkshire Hathaway, Says It Has Lost Buffett's 'Fat Pitch' Discipline

Michael Burry says Berkshire Hathaway no longer has the 'fat pitch' patience that defined Warren Buffett's investing, and has written off the company as an attractive bet under new chief executive Greg Abel.

The investor behind the famous wager against the US housing market said he has lost faith in Berkshire since Buffett stepped down, arguing that Abel's early capital-allocation moves point to a different approach from his predecessor.

Burry Says His Berkshire Fear Has Come True

Burry said his biggest concern about Berkshire was what would happen when Buffett stepped down as chief executive. He said he feared Buffett's successor would be 'too old and otherwise not Warren' and would lack his patience for the 'fat pitch'.

'I do not find Berkshire an attractive investment going forward,' Burry said in a post published on Monday. He also described Berkshire's early moves under Abel as 'more framing moves than investment moves'.

Buffett stepped down as Berkshire's chief executive at the end of 2025, with Abel taking over in January. Buffett remains Berkshire's chairman.

Burry's comments came after Berkshire reported a shift in its investment activity during the second quarter. The company became a net buyer of stocks after more than three years of net selling.

Berkshire Starts Deploying Its Cash

Berkshire bought about $23.5 billion of stocks in the second quarter and sold roughly $3.7 billion, making it a net buyer of equities for the first time in 14 quarters. The company also repurchased about $4.5 billion of its own shares during the quarter.

That compared with roughly $234 million in buybacks during the first quarter. Berkshire's cash and Treasury holdings fell to about $365 billion at the end of June.

The decline was the first sequential reduction in the company's cash pile in four years. The change came after years in which Berkshire accumulated cash while finding relatively few investments that met Buffett's standards.

The company still held hundreds of billions of dollars in cash and Treasury securities at the end of the quarter.

Abel's Early Moves Draw Burry's Fire

Burry's criticism focuses on the nature of Berkshire's capital deployment rather than simply the amount of money being spent. His argument is that Buffett's willingness to wait for unusually attractive opportunities was central to the Berkshire investment model.

Berkshire has nevertheless continued to make large investments and acquisitions around the leadership transition. Some of those decisions were made while Buffett was still chief executive.

Berkshire completed its acquisition of OxyChem for about $9.7 billion in January. The company also agreed to acquire Taylor Morrison's residential construction business for about $6.8 billion.

Berkshire also bought about $10 billion of Alphabet shares through a private placement. Buffett later said he had initiated the Alphabet investment before stepping down as chief executive.

Those transactions make it difficult to attribute all of Berkshire's recent capital deployment to Abel. The second-quarter figures do show that the company has become more active in deploying its balance sheet.

Berkshire Shares Trail S&P 500 in 2026

Berkshire's Class B shares have also lagged the S&P 500 so far in 2026. The performance has added to scrutiny of the company during its first year without Buffett as chief executive.

Berkshire remains a large operating conglomerate with businesses spanning insurance, railroads, energy, manufacturing and retail. Its investment portfolio and operating businesses continue to generate cash.

Abel has said he intends to maintain Berkshire's disciplined approach to capital allocation. Buffett remains chairman and has continued to advise Abel on major decisions.

Burry's assessment is focused on what he sees as a change in investment temperament rather than a claim that Berkshire's financial position has deteriorated. His conclusion is that the company no longer offers the investment appeal it did under Buffett.

Burry Questions Berkshire's Future Appeal

Burry's statement puts the transition from Buffett to Abel under a different lens. Berkshire has started deploying more of its cash, while Burry argues that the change reflects a loss of the patience that once defined its investment strategy.

The company's second-quarter results provide evidence of increased capital deployment but do not establish that Berkshire has abandoned Buffett's approach. Abel's tenure is still in its early stages, and several major recent investments were initiated before the leadership change.

Berkshire ended the second quarter with about $365 billion in cash and Treasury securities. Burry's criticism comes as the company begins deciding how much of that reserve to deploy and where to put it.