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Warren Buffett - Source: Reuters
A bidder has agreed to pay $3.81 million for a steak lunch with
the billionaire investor Warren Buffett in a charity auction held
on eBay Inc's website.
The highest bid in the 11th annual auction topped the previous
record $3 million paid in 2008 by Zhao Danyang, a Hong Kong
investor.
Wealth manager Salida Capital Corp of Toronto won with a $2.4
million bid in 2009.
The identity of the winning bidder could not immediately be
determined after bidding closed Friday night.
EBay was not immediately available for comment.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Buffett's insurance and investment
company, did not immediately return a request for comment.
The winner and up to seven friends will dine with the world's
third-richest person at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in
midtown Manhattan.
Smith & Wollensky is also donating $14,488.
As in his increasingly frequent television appearances, Buffett
will talk about pretty much anything apart from what he is buying
and selling.
Proceeds benefit the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco non-profit
organisation offering meals, healthcare, child care, housing and
job training for the poor and homeless.
Glide is also known for lively Sunday morning services that
include gospel music.
Buffett began auctioning the lunches in 2000 after his first wife
Susan introduced him to Glide and its founder, the Reverend Cecil
Williams.
In a Friday interview, Williams said the auction was critical to
Glide because the economy has caused donations to fall 20% this
year, while demand for Glide's services was up 30%.
Glide's annual budget is about $24 million.
The auction began on Sunday night, and the top bid rose from $2.6
million in the last hour.
Nine bidders made a total of 77 bids.
Entering Friday, the highest bid had been $1.3 million,
according to eBay.
"I'm jumping for joy. There's no doubt about it," Williams, 80,
said after the high bid had topped $2.1 million.
"Warren Buffett understands Glide and he supports Glide. I said
to him a week-and-a-half ago, 'You're such a good person,' and he
laughed and said, "Well you know, I'm trying, I'm trying.'"
The 10 prior auctions had raised more than $8.5 million.
The first three were live, with top bids ranging from $US36,221
to $US46,363 according to Glide.
Buffett, 79, built an estimated $68 billion fortune running Omaha,
Nebraska-based Berkshire, which operates about 80 businesses and
has tens of billions of dollars of investments.
In 2006, Buffett pledged most of his wealth to the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation and four family charities.
Bill Gates, a Microsoft Corp co-founder, is a Berkshire
director.
Susan Buffett died in 2004.
Warren Buffett remarried two years later on his 76th
birthday.
The following are winners of the Glide auction since
bidding moved online:
2003 - David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital, $362,358
2004 - Jason Choo, $292,813
2005 - Anonymous, $508,693
2006 - Yongping Duan, $898,435
2007 - Mohnish Pabrai, Guy Spier, $941,900
2008 - Zhao Danyang, Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund,
$3,057,229
2009 - Salida Capital Corp, $2,434,511
