Last year’s winning bid for lunch with legendary investor Warren Buffett topped US$2.1 million, but given the economic turmoil, it’s questionable this year’s bidding will approach that level.
Yet Buffett has built a devoted following, as demonstrated by the crowd of 35,000 people at his recent Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting, and he offers only one lunch per year.
The online bidding began at US$25,000 on Sunday in a charity auction that benefits the Glide Foundation, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco. The bids will likely escalate significantly before the auction closes on Friday at 10pm.
Glide’s founder, Cecil Williams, said last year’s big bid arrived just in time because demand for Glide’s programs jumped roughly 20 percent in the past year with the recession. Glide relies on donations for most of its US$17 million budget, so Williams is hoping for another big bid.
“We depend greatly on these people and their bidding,” Williams said.
Buffett’s late first wife, Susan, introduced the billionaire investor to Williams and the Glide Foundation. Buffett says he enjoys being able to help Glide with the lunch.
Buffett, who is Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive, is primarily known for his investing success. Berkshire owns more than 60 subsidiaries including insurance, furniture, clothing, jewelry and candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate jet firms and has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co and Wells Fargo & Co.
The auction’s winner and up to seven friends will lunch with Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive. The owners of the Smith and Wollensky restaurant in New York contributed US$10,000 to Glide and will again host the lunch.
Last year’s winner, Zhao Danyang (趙丹陽) of the Hong Kong-based Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund, is scheduled to collect his prize by dining with Buffett tomorrow.
“This is truly the chance of a lifetime,” Zhao said.
Last year’s winning bid on lunch with Buffett was the most expensive charity item eBay had ever sold.
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