By Steve Purcell on
Each year around June, former World’s Richest Man Warren Buffett auctions off the opportunity to dine with him, and the well-heeled winners’ bids go straight to charity.
In the 6 previous years that Buffett has presented this opportunity, financiers and entrepreneurs keen to share his legendary market wisdom have handed over more than $4.2 million, primarily to Glide, a charity that supports San Francisco’s homeless community.
The 2006 lunch went for $610,000, while 2007’s fetched $650,000, and last year’s pre-market-collapse lunch cost the winner a record $2.1 million.
Just 2 days into the 2009 auction, hosted at eBay, slated to finish on Friday 26th, bidding has reached $75,000, comparable to the 2007 bidding. We’ll report back with the final result.
Buffett also eats other meals for charity, auctioning off his dinner company in 2007 in support of the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness.
In 2006 he sold his town car at charity auction to benefit Girls Inc. The vehicle sported his personalized “THRIFTY” license plate, but the real beneficiary of his thrift that year was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to which he pledged $37bn — the bulk of his fortune.
Copyright © 2009 Look to the Stars
