Taylor Morrison Home Corp (TMHC) shares are up about 24% this week after Berkshire Hathaway agreed to buy the homebuilder in an all-cash deal — one of the biggest moves yet from Berkshire's new CEO, Greg Abel.

Berkshire announced Sunday it would acquire Taylor Morrison for $72.50 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of roughly $6.8 billion and an enterprise value of $8.5 billion. That's a 24% premium to Taylor Morrison's closing price of $58.50 on May 29. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. After that, Taylor Morrison will become a private company.

This isn't just a big acquisition — it's a statement. Abel has now deployed about $18.5 billion in just two days. The Taylor Morrison deal was quickly followed by a $10 billion investment in Alphabet as part of Google's $80 billion AI capital raise. That's a pace of spending that Warren Buffett, famous for sitting on cash and waiting for the right moment, rarely matched.

Abel also hinted he might break from Buffett's longtime hands-off operating model. He suggested he could consolidate Taylor Morrison with Berkshire's existing homebuilding operations under its Clayton Homes subsidiary. Clayton Homes is a manufactured home builder and one of the largest operators of mobile home communities in the country. Combining it with Taylor Morrison — which builds single-family homes and develops master-planned communities — would give Berkshire a stake across the entire housing market, from trailer parks to upscale subdivisions.

“We are excited to welcome Taylor Morrison into Berkshire's portfolio, reflecting our long-standing commitment to housing, exemplified by Clayton Homes and our other building products businesses,” Abel said in a statement. “Over time, we expect to unify our site-built homebuilding operations into a combined platform enabling us to deliver the dream of homeownership to more Americans.”

Buffett famously talked about wanting to use Berkshire's “elephant gun” for a major acquisition — and then largely didn't. Abel appears to be pulling the trigger. Taylor Morrison was trading at less than nine times earnings before the announcement, reflecting how painfully slow the U.S. housing market has been in recent years. Berkshire is betting that will turn in its favor.

Taylor Morrison is a U.S. residential construction company that designs, builds, and sells single-family and multi-family homes, along with developing lifestyle communities. It focuses on traditionally high-growth markets and targets entry-level, move-up, and resort lifestyle buyers. The company reports across East, Central, West and Financial Services segments, with the West segment driving most of its revenue. For investors, that means results can be sensitive to regional housing demand, affordability conditions and the pace of new-home orders in those Western markets.

As for the stock: Taylor Morrison shares were down 0.06% at $71.51 at the time of publication on Tuesday. That's just below Berkshire's acquisition price, after soaring more than 22% on Monday. The stock is essentially trading in line with the deal value, as investors expect the transaction to close.