Did Greg Abel Already Make His First Big Mistake as Berkshire Hathaway CEO?

Warren Buffett's hand-picked successor, Greg Abel, became chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) on Jan. 1. Within months, he made a number of changes, including selling stakes in many smaller holdings, such as Visa (NYSE: V) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA), and pole-vaulting Alphabet into a core holding (on Buffett's recommendation). Just as meaningful was inaction on key holdings like American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) -- which signaled a vote of confidence amid the portfolio reshuffling. American Express is underperforming Visa and Mastercard year-to-date. So at first glance, it may look like it was a mistake to sell Berkshire's entire stakes in Visa and Mastercard and bet solely on American Express.