After Warren Buffett exit, Greg Abel starts deploying Berkshire Hathaway’s $365.5 billion cash pile

Berkshire Hathaway’s enormous cash reserve is beginning to decline under new CEO Greg Abel, signaling a potentially important shift in the investment strategy of the conglomerate once led by Warren Buffett.Berkshire reported on Saturday that it held $365.5 billion in cash and Treasury bills at the end of June, down considerably from $397.4 billion at the end of March. Excluding Treasury payables, the company’s cash and short-term government securities declined from roughly $380 billion to $365 billion during the quarter.Abel, who formally succeeded Buffett as Berkshire’s chief executive at the beginning of this year, has overseen a renewed deployment of the company’s huge financial reserves. During the April-to-June quarter, Berkshire repurchased approximately $4.5 billion of its own shares. It continued that pace in July, buying back more than $3.3 billion in additional stock.