Berkshire Hathaway makes backdoor investment in SpaceX through Alphabet holdings

Warren Buffett has spent decades telling anyone who would listen that he doesn’t do IPOs. Turns out, he doesn’t have to. Berkshire Hathaway now holds an indirect economic interest in SpaceX worth approximately $700 million, acquired entirely through its position in Alphabet, Google’s parent company. The math is straightforward. Berkshire owns about 0.9% of Alphabet, a position valued at roughly $38B as of June 30, 2026. Alphabet, in turn, holds approximately 4% of SpaceX, a stake valued at around $94B. Multiply those two percentages together and you get Berkshire’s “look-through” exposure to SpaceX: about 0.04%, initially worth roughly $815 million before recent share price movements trimmed it to around $700 million. The Oracle’s accidental rocket bet Nobody at Berkshire headquarters in Omaha sat down and decided to invest in rocket launches. The SpaceX exposure is a mathematical consequence of two separate decisions: Alphabet’s 2015 investment of approximately $900 million in SpaceX alongside Fidelity, and Berkshire’s subsequent decision to build a major position in Alphabet. Berkshire expanded its Alphabet stake by 83%, accumulating nearly 106 million shares by mid-2026. That ma...