Warren Buffett, the second-richest man in the world, said he's willing to make three more lunch dates -- at US$250,000 each -- to raise more than US$1 million for a San Francisco charity.
Two, and possibly as many as three additional companies, want to match the winning bid for a date with the billionaire that was auctioned last week on EBay Inc's Web site, the head of the charity said.
Buffett, the chairman of Berk-shire Hathaway Inc, said he was pleased.
"There are three more takers, I hear," Buffett told Bloomberg News on Sunday, while attending the Allen & Co media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
"That's great," he said.
On Friday, Greenlight Capital Inc's David Einhorn, one of the founders of the New York-based investment-management firm, placed the original winning US$250,100 bid in the EBay auction, topping 140 other offers.
Proceeds from the luncheons will go to the Glide Foundation, a non-profit group that provides programs for about 30,000 homeless and needy people. Buffett became involved with Glide after his wife introduced him to the Reverend Cecil Williams, the head of the foundation, four years ago.
Three other companies contacted Williams after the auction, agreeing to match Einhorn's bid for a similar dining experience with Buffett, Williams said on Sunday in a telephone interview from Glide's headquarters.
Williams declined to identify the companies, two of which he said have confirmed they will match the bid and one that is considering it. The companies had participated in the auction, yet fell short of the winning bid.
Williams contacted Einhorn, who agreed to allow the matching donations on the condition that Buffett play bridge with him.
"Oh, my God, it's incredible," Williams said. "It's been a hard way to go sometimes, but we've always pulled it off until two or three years ago when the bottom fell out, as it did for most people."
Glide raised less than US$33,000 annually from the Buffett auction in the past three years.
Einhorn won a lunch for eight people in New York between May 5 and May 14, although an earlier appointment can be arranged in Omaha, Nebraska, where Berkshire is based.
Williams said the other lunches would likely be held in Omaha under similar circumstances.
"I am thrilled that these other bidders saw the value of this gift for the benefit of the homeless and decided to match it," Einhorn said in a statement provided by Abernathy MacGregor Group Inc, which handles public relations for Greenlight.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
RSS