Li Lu's Himalaya Q1 2026: Alphabet Is 45% of the Book

Few managers in the entire 13F universe concentrate like Himalaya Capital Management. The firm run by Li Lu — the value investor Charlie Munger famously entrusted with his own family's money — disclosed a $3.20 billion U.S. equity portfolio for the first quarter of 2026, and a single company, Alphabet, accounted for a combined 44.8% of it across the GOOGL and GOOG share classes. That is not a tilt; it is a conviction bet that would make most institutional risk committees flinch. The detail a casual 13F summary misses is what Himalaya did around that anchor in Q1: it held its core flat, cut Bank of America by 71%, and quietly opened two new positions.

The numbers come straight from Himalaya's Form 13F-HR for the period ending March 31, 2026 (filed 2026-05-15, accession 0002043585-26-000013). Alphabet's two lines were worth $731.4 million (GOOGL, 22.85%) and $703.2 million (GOOG, 21.97%). Behind them sat PDD Holdings at $470.8 million (14.71%), Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares at $430.2 million (13.44%), and East West Bancorp at $296.4 million (9.26%). Those top five names alone represented roughly 82% of the entire book — a structure that looks far more like a private holding company than a diversified fund.

This is the signature of how Li Lu invests: a tiny number of deeply researched businesses, held for years, with turnover that barely registers quarter to quarter. The Q1 2026 filing is a clean illustration of that discipline, and the chart below shows just how top-heavy the disclosed portfolio is.

The anchors held, the periphery moved

What makes the quarter interesting is the contrast between a frozen core and an active periphery. Alphabet, PDD, Berkshire, East West Bancorp, and Occidental Petroleum ($95.3 million, 2.98%) were all held roughly flat in share terms — the kind of non-activity that defines a long-term holder. The movement happened lower in the book. Himalaya cut its Bank of America stake by 71% in share count, leaving just $146.2 million (4.57%) at quarter-end, and it added 41% to Crocs, bringing that position to $73.6 million (2.30%).

The firm also expanded the portfolio's breadth, growing from 9 disclosed positions to 14 — the most names Himalaya has carried in recent memory. Two of those additions were new positions: Tencent Music Entertainment at $61.2 million (1.91%) and S&P Global at $51.7 million (1.61%). Tencent Music deepens an existing China-internet thesis that already runs through PDD; S&P Global, a wide-moat data-and-ratings duopoly, fits the quality-compounder mold of the Alphabet and Berkshire core. Neither is large enough yet to matter to performance, but for a manager who adds names this rarely, two fresh tickets in a single quarter is a signal worth noting.

The concentration picture above frames the central risk and the central appeal of owning a sliver of this strategy through the 13F lens: when 82% of the book sits in five names, returns are dictated by a handful of theses, not by diversification. That is by design. Munger's long-stated view — that a great business held at a fair price beats a basket of mediocre ones — is encoded directly into Himalaya's position sizing.

The AUM dip is mark-to-market, not capitulation

Reported 13F value fell from $3.57 billion to $3.20 billion quarter over quarter, a decline of 10.3%. It would be a mistake to read that as the firm pulling in its horns. With the core positions held flat in share terms, the dollar decline is overwhelmingly a function of price — Alphabet and the China-exposed names moving with the market — plus the 71% reduction in Bank of America. A manager redeeming or de-risking does not simultaneously open two new positions and expand its name count by more than half. The AUM line, charted below, is better read as the natural breathing of a concentrated book marked to a single quarter's closing prices.

For investors using 13F data to track Himalaya's quarterly positioning, the takeaways are straightforward. The Alphabet thesis is the firm's defining bet and shows no sign of wavering. The Bank of America cut, paired with East West Bancorp held flat, suggests selectivity within financials rather than an exit from the sector. And the new Tencent Music and S&P Global stakes mark the first incremental ideas in a portfolio that, by construction, changes slowly. None of it alters the headline: this is one of the most concentrated, lowest-turnover institutional books a retail investor can shadow.

FAQ

How concentrated is Li Lu's Himalaya Capital portfolio? Extremely. In its Q1 2026 13F, Alphabet (GOOGL plus GOOG) made up a combined 44.8% of the $3.20 billion portfolio, and the top five holdings represented roughly 82% of total assets across just 14 disclosed positions.

What did Himalaya Capital buy and sell in Q1 2026? The firm cut Bank of America by 71% in share count, added 41% to Crocs, and opened two new positions — Tencent Music Entertainment ($61.2 million) and S&P Global ($51.7 million) — while holding Alphabet, PDD, Berkshire Hathaway, and East West Bancorp roughly flat.

Why did Himalaya's 13F value fall 10.3% quarter over quarter? Reported value declined from $3.57 billion to $3.20 billion, driven mainly by mark-to-market price moves in the held-flat core positions plus the 71% trim of Bank of America — not by a broad de-risking, since the firm simultaneously added new names and grew from 9 to 14 positions.

What is Himalaya Capital's largest holding? Alphabet, split across the GOOGL ($731.4 million, 22.85%) and GOOG ($703.2 million, 21.97%) share classes, is by far the largest position, followed by PDD Holdings and Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares.