3 billionaires sold Alphabet in Q1 as 2 bought more GOOGL stock

Q1 2026 13F filings revealed a split among billionaire investors on Alphabet Inc., with three selling their stakes while two increased their positions, the May SEC disclosures show.

"Alphabet remains a core holding, but we trimmed to rebalance into higher-conviction AI plays," one of the selling managers said in a first-quarter investor letter reviewed by Edgen. The three sellers cited valuation concerns and capital rotation into AI infrastructure names as primary reasons for reducing exposure.

Alphabet shares rose 11% year to date through Thursday's close, outperforming the S&P 500's 4.2% decline in the first quarter. The stock trades at 27.8 times trailing earnings, a discount to the broader tech sector's average multiple. The company reported Q1 revenue of $109.9 billion, up 22% year over year, with earnings per share of $5.11 beating the $2.63 consensus estimate. Google Cloud revenue surged 63% to $20 billion, with a backlog of roughly $460 billion.

The two billionaires who added to their Alphabet positions during the quarter cited the company's expanding cloud business and AI monetization potential as key drivers. Alphabet guided for capital expenditures of $175 billion to $185 billion in 2026, signaling aggressive investment in AI data center infrastructure. The divergent billionaire positioning creates an uncertain near-term outlook for GOOGL, with the stock's next catalyst being the Q2 earnings report expected in late July. The split among sophisticated investors suggests the market is still pricing in competing narratives about Alphabet's ability to convert its AI spending into sustained revenue growth.