Warren Buffett lunch auctioned at US$2.63 mln

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Buffett, one of the world's richest people, is chief executive of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

An anonymous bidder was willing to pay more than US$2.63 million for lunch with legendary investor Warren Buffett after the auction closed Friday to set a new record.

The winning bidder added another amount to bring the tab to US$ 2,626,411 after winning a bid of US$2,345,678 at the close of the weeklongonline auction, thus outbidding last year's previous record-breaking sum.

The proceeds from the auction will go to the Glide Foundation, a non-profit organization which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco.

Yet the winner's identity was not released.

The winner of the auction usually gets to lunch with Buffett at New York's Smith & Wollensky steakhouse and has free rein to steer the table talk.

The auction started in 2000, when the winning bid was $25,000. In 2003, the auction was first held on eBay, drawing bidders from all over the world, and the winning bid was increased to US$250,100.

The previous record amount bid till in the annual auction was set  by an anonymous American at US$2,626,311 last year. In 2009, Canadian investment firm Salida Capital paid US$1.68 million to dine with Buffett and in 2008, Zhao Danyang, a Chinese investment fund manager paid US$2.11 million.

Winning bids for Warren Buffett lunch

Year

Winning bid (US$)

Winner

2000

25,000

Anonymous

2001

18,000

Anonymous

2002

25,000

Edward Jones Co. and 2 Anonymous

2003

250,100

David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital 

2004

202,100

Jason Choo, Singapore   

2005

351,100

Anonymous   

2006

620,100

Yongping Duan, California  

2007

650,100

Mohnish Pabrai, Guy Spier, Harina Kapoor

2008

2,110,100

Zhao Danyang, China

2009

1,680,300

Canadian investment firm Salida Capital   

2010

2,626,311

Anonymous    

2011

2,626,411

Anonymous    

 


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