Buffett is amazed his lunch drew a $2.1M bid

Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:22 PM EDT
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OMAHA — A Chinese investment fund manager's bid for the chance to have lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett was the largest ever in a charity auction on eBay and surprised even Buffett.

"It kind of blew me away," Buffett said Tuesday.

Zhao Danyang of the Hong Kong-based Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund won the auction, which ended Friday evening with a bid of $2,110,100.

The Oracle of Omaha said the size of Zhao's bid doesn't mean the meal will stretch past the three hours Buffett usually spends with auction winners.

All of the auction's proceeds go to the Glide Foundation, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco.

This was the sixth year that Buffett auctioned a lunch on auctioneer eBay Inc.'s Web site to benefit Glide. Buffett began auctioning the lunches for Glide off-line in 2000.

Last year, two investors won lunch with Buffett for $650,100.

Visiting a Dairy Queen in Omaha Tuesday morning to sample the new Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie Blizzard — a perk of being CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which owns International Dairy Queen Inc. — Buffett chatted with six area Girl Scouts.

When one asked Buffett about how he chooses which charities to support, he said to look for the most effective ones whose mission you believe in.

Buffett announced in 2006 that he will steadily give away the bulk of his fortune. Most of his stock in Berkshire Hathaway will go to five charitable foundations, with the largest portion going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The other four foundations to receive large gifts from Buffett include three run by his three children and one he and his first wife established.

Besides Dairy Queen, Omaha-based Berkshire owns more than 60 companies in the insurance, clothing, furniture, jewelry, candy, restaurant and natural gas industries. It holds large stakes in such major companies as Coca-Cola Co., Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Wells Fargo & Co.

___

On the Net:

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com

Dairy Queen: http://www.dairyqueen.com

Glide Foundation: http://www.glide.org

Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund: http://www.pureheartchina.com/english

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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{"commentId":2076116,"authorDomain":"jaljones"}
JalJones

Some should nominate Warren Buffet to become a saint.

{"commentId":2076116,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"jaljones"}
  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:41 PM EDT
{"commentId":2077759,"authorDomain":"barry-rutherford"}
Barry Rutherford

Must have been one hell of a(stake) steak !

{"commentId":2077759,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"barry-rutherford"}
  • 1 vote
#1.1 - Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:53 AM EDT
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{"commentId":2076237,"authorDomain":"Jivatmanx"}
Jivatman

Wow, and I always though buffets were cheap.

{"commentId":2076237,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"Jivatmanx"}
  • 3 votes
Reply#2 - Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:04 PM EDT
{"commentId":2076342,"authorDomain":"jaawalla"}
Jace

After that high a bid, I hope Buffet will at least pick up the check.

{"commentId":2076342,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"jaawalla"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#3 - Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:23 PM EDT
{"commentId":2076423,"authorDomain":"fetgucked-1"}
2beheard

After payin 2 cool to have lunch with somebody, they better be pickin up the soap!

{"commentId":2076423,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"fetgucked-1"}
  • 1 vote
Reply#4 - Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:37 PM EDT
{"commentId":2076663,"authorDomain":"patrickbb"}
P. B. B.

Who is going to pay for the lunch ?

{"commentId":2076663,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"patrickbb"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#5 - Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:30 PM EDT
{"commentId":2076837,"authorDomain":"wickenden"}
wickenden

Um, lunch at DAIRY QUEEN???

{"commentId":2076837,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"wickenden"}
  • 1 vote
Reply#6 - Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:13 AM EDT
{"commentId":2085890,"authorDomain":"skal"}
Skal

Buffett owns Dairy Queen. There Blizzards are amazing. :)

{"commentId":2085890,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"skal"}
    #6.1 - Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:05 PM EDT
    Reply
    {"commentId":2077704,"authorDomain":"Henryvii"}
    Henry VII

    He offers only one lunch a year.

    Williams called Buffett's dedication to the charity lunches amazing.

    Buffett does a lot for charity, but one lunch per year is not "amazing" dedication.

    {"commentId":2077704,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"Henryvii"}
    • 3 votes
    Reply#7 - Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:12 AM EDT
    {"commentId":2077706,"authorDomain":"adventurebooks"}
    Robert Blevins - AB of Seattle

    It's all hype and publicity.

    Buffett's time is so valuable, he could have dropped $10 million easily on the charity just to avoid having to actually DO the lunch.

    But since he didn't, and went through the whole 'charity' thing, it proves one thing. He's cheap.

    {"commentId":2077706,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"adventurebooks"}
    • 2 votes
    Reply#8 - Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:13 AM EDT
    {"commentId":2077736,"authorDomain":"danish"}
    Captain Nemo
    He's cheap.

    2.1 million for a lunch isn't cheap. It's pretty darn expensive ;)

    You know, maybe Warren Buffet is just really smart. Being the richest man and all, chances are that is the key to his wealth, rather than cheapness. I know a lot of cheap people, and none of them have any money to speak of. Glide needs publicity as much as Warren don't.

    Maybe Warren is just having fun. Maybe he likes dating Chinese investment fund managers. Who knows?

    {"commentId":2077736,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"danish"}
    • 2 votes
    #8.1 - Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:37 AM EDT
    {"commentId":2085907,"authorDomain":"skal"}
    Skal

    Not to mention the fact that this is a great opportunity for the Chinese invement firm to get Buffetts attention. They are probably hopeing for some sort of deal from this.

    {"commentId":2085907,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"skal"}
      #8.2 - Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:06 PM EDT
      Reply
      {"commentId":2087419,"authorDomain":"tegularius"}
      I Tegularius

      Pure Heart is a well known investment house in HKG. My one question -- is the firm paying for it (publicity, as Skal, Blevins and others mentioned) or is it coming out of his own proverbial pocket?

      {"commentId":2087419,"threadId":"301645","contentId":"1621777","authorDomain":"tegularius"}
        Reply#9 - Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:54 PM EDT
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