Last Lunch with Warren Buffett, How High Will the Auction Go?

Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and known as the "Sage of Omaha," will hold the final lunch auction he has conducted for over 20 years to donate to charity this June. This auction, popular for the opportunity to seek investment advice over a lunch with Chairman Buffett, is expected to record the highest bid ever this year.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others on the 25th (local time), the San Francisco-based charity Glide Foundation announced that the "Power of One" event, a lunch auction with Chairman Buffett, will start at $25,000 (about 31 million KRW) on June 12 via eBay and will end on the 17th. The winning bidder will be invited to dine with Chairman Buffett and up to seven guests at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse in New York, USA.

The Glide Foundation, which announced the lunch auction with Chairman Buffett that had been suspended for two years due to COVID-19, emphasized that this auction will be the last. Jamie Iannone, CEO of eBay, which is conducting the auction, said, "The final lunch with Warren Buffett is expected to achieve another record-breaking winning bid."

Chairman Buffett has been involved with the Glide Foundation since 2000 through his late ex-wife Susan Buffett, who passed away in 2004 after engaging in charitable activities during her lifetime. The first charity auction started at $25,000, but since 2008, all winning bids have exceeded $1 million. Through 20 lunches, Chairman Buffett has donated over $34 million to Glide. The highest bid was $4.57 million in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak, won by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.

Participants in the auction were mainly individuals seeking to discuss Chairman Buffett's investments, including hedge fund manager David Einhorn, a Wall Street legend who predicted the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. He paid $250,000 in 2003 to have lunch with Chairman Buffett and later donated an additional $250,000 to Glide. Former hedge fund manager Ted Weschler paid over $5 million and had lunch with Chairman Buffett two years in a row in 2011 and 2012, after which he was hired as an investment manager at Berkshire Hathaway.

The news of Chairman Buffett's final lunch auction came ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting on the 30th of this month. At this meeting, shareholder proposals demanding the replacement of Chairman Buffett's board chair position and the disclosure of plans to address climate change risks will be voted on. Chairman Buffett's side did not comment on the reason for holding the final auction. The Glide Foundation stated that it will continue to collaborate with Chairman Buffett in other ways going forward.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.