The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that Berkshire Hathaway reduced its enormous stockpile of cash in the second quarter, investing billions of dollars in stocks such as Alphabet and repurchasing billions of its own, as it posted higher-than-expected profit. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe quotes Berkshire saying it repurchased $4.5-billion of its own stock between April and June and over $3.3-billion more in July, accelerating repurchases it began in March following a nearly two-year hiatus (all figures U.S.). Berkshire also bought nearly $20-billion more stocks than it sold, ending 14 straight quarters as a net seller of shares. Purchases included a $10-billion addition to an already-large investment in Alphabet, the parent of Google and YouTube, which is now one of its largest stock holdings. Quarterly operating profit rose 16 per cent to $12.98-billion, topping analyst forecasts, as improvement at the BNSF railway and service businesses including the NetJets luxury plane unit and TTI electronic components distributor helped offset weakness at the Geico auto insurer. Net income more than doubled to $25.67-billion, including unrealized gains and losses on the stocks that Berkshire still owns.