In final Warren Buffett charity lunch, $19 million raised

Robert Besser
22 Jun 2022, 00:20 GMT+10

A $19 million bid has won a charity auction for the opportunity to dine with financier Warren Buffett.
The auction was conducted by eBay last week, far surpassing the earlier years' highest bid of $4.57 million paid in 2019 by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.
Money from the auction is donated to Glide, a nonprofit charity in San Francisco that helps the poor, homeless or those battling substance abuse.

San Francisco, California: A $19 million bid has won a charity auction for the opportunity to dine with financier Warren Buffett.

Officials said this is the 21st year Buffett auctioned a lunch with himself, and will also be the final auction.

The auction was conducted by eBay last week, far surpassing the earlier years' highest bid of $4.57 million paid in 2019 by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.

The identitity of the new winner has not been disclosed.

Money from the auction is donated to Glide, a nonprofit charity in San Francisco's Tenderloin district that helps the poor, homeless or those battling substance abuse.

Buffett, who is 91, is chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. In past years he has raised more than $53.2 million for Glide in auctions, which began in 2000.

An eBay spokeswoman noted that this was the most expensive charity bid ever received on the company's website.

Buffett began supporting the charity after his late wife became a volunteer.

As of last week, Buffett was worth $93.4 billion, ranking seventh worldwide, according to Forbes magazine.

Buffett has pledged to give away most of his fortune.

The winner of this year's auction will dine with Buffet at Manhattan's Smith and Wollensky steakhouse.

Rules for the lunch include that Buffett will talk about almost anything, except where he might next invest.

Buffet's Berkshire owns companies, including BNSF railroad, Geico car insurance, energy, manufacturing and retail businesses, and large blocks of stocks, including Apple and Bank of America.