One lucky soul had the winning eBay bid of $250,000. The money goes to charity, the bidder goes to lunch. This is no ordinary lunch, of course, but lunch with the second richest man in the world, Warren Buffett.
Buffett is a legendary investor, and Chairman of Berkshire-Hathaway. Perhaps more remarkable regarding his reputation as an investor is the fact that he shuns technology stocks, claiming he does not understand them well enough to invest in them. One can imagine that his friend, the man who nudged Buffett aside from the position of richest man in the world, Bill Gates might be persuaded to tutor him in this regard.
Berkshire-Hathaway, by the way, is a rather legendary company in its own right. They are a holding company, whose subsidiaries are mostly but not exclusively insurance companies. The two subsidiaries you are most likely to have heard of are GEICO and Dairy Queen. At this writing, it will cost you over $70K to buy a single class “A” share of Berksire-Hathaway. There is no dividend. The company paid Buffett a salary of $294K in 2002. That’s not much more than the cost of this little luncheon.
As with many men of wealth beyond being able to spend it, he is also a bit of a philanthropist. Previous charity lunches, held in San Francisco and not auctioned on eBay, went for $25-32K. These lunches have gone from the price of a nice car to the price of a nice 4 bedroom house in many areas of the country. The winner does get to bring 7 companions, bringing the price per plate down to $31,250 — assuming the actual food is included in the price tag.
I sincerely hope the winner is doing this because he or she wishes to help the charity beneficiary, and not thinking to pick up a quarter million dollar stock tip.