An anonymous bidder offered to pay more than $3.3 million for the chance to dine with Warren Buffett, the billionaire chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway.
The winning bid in the annual “Power Lunch With Warren Buffett” charity auction came in at $3,300,100 Friday night. The amount exceeds the $2,679,001 paid last year but fell short of the record $3,456,789 bid in 2016.
Now in its 19th year, the event has raised more than $25 million for Glide, a San Francisco charity. The nonprofit organization provides a variety of services, including food, shelter and child care, for people who are poor, homeless or battling substance abuse.
This year’s auction, run through eBay, began May 27 and closed Friday night. The winner, along with up to seven friends, will share a lunch with Buffett at Smith & Wollensky, a steakhouse in Manhattan.
The lunch, in one instance, led to a job offer. Ted Weschler, a former hedge fund manager, won the auction in 2010 and 2011, spending a combined $5,252,722. At the second meeting, Buffett sounded out Weschler about a job. Today, Weschler and Todd Combs are Berkshire Hathaway’s two investment managers.
