Bidder pays $6.3 million to dine with Warren Buffett
An anonymous bidder has agreed to pay a record US$4,567,888 (S$6,275,821) at an annual charity auction to have a private lunch with Mr Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.
The winning bid, which was submitted during a five-day online auction on eBay that ended on Friday night, was nearly one-third higher than the previous record US$3,456,789 bids in both the 2012 and 2016 auctions.
Proceeds benefit the Glide Foundation, a charity in San Francisco that serves the poor, homeless or those battling substance abuse.
Glide's budget goes toward providing roughly 2,000 free meals a day, shelter, HIV and Hepatitis C tests, job training, and children's daycare and after-school programmes.
Mr Buffett, 88, has raised about US$34.2 million for Glide in 20 annual auctions, which began in 2000 and moved to eBay in 2003.
His first wife Susan, who died in 2004, introduced him to Glide after volunteering for it. "Mr Buffett is thrilled. We just spoke with him," Glide President Karen Hanrahan said after the auction. "Mr Buffett is committed to continuing the auction as long as he's able."
The winning bidder and up to seven friends can dine at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan with Mr Buffett, who says he will discuss anything apart from his next investments. - REUTERS
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