Can Diageo prove the new Warren Buffett wrong?

Berkshire Hathaway has a history of poor UK stock picks, and it might have sold too soon again

Published on June 22, 2026

by Dan Jones

Berkshire Hathaway’s (US:BRK.B) $10bn (£7.6bn) investment in Alphabet (US:GOOGL) earlier this month shows that chief executive Greg Abel, aka the man who replaced Warren Buffett, is making his mark. But a different decision by the new man – one that’s made far fewer headlines – holds just as much interest for UK equity investors. In the opening months of the year, the company sold its stake in Guinness and Johnnie Walker owner Diageo (DGE). From this we can learn plenty about sell discipline, managerial strategy and investment philosophies.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: the drinks giant was a disastrous investment for Berkshire. The sale crystallised a loss of around 50 per cent on the position it bought three years ago. The events of the 1990s, when Buffett chose Guinness as his first major overseas investment only to see the shares subsequently underperform, have repeated themselves.

In this regard, the retreat is also reminiscent of the insurer’s only other UK holding of recent times: a similarly ill-fated stake in Tesco (TSCO). That divestment finally completed in late 2014, Buffett having admitted to making a “huge mistake” with the stock.

If you own shares, one day you will own a clunker, how you deal with that event will dictate how successful your Snowball will be going forward.

As always it’s