More than two decades ago, Warren Buffett’s first wife, Susie, had an idea: Auction off a charity lunch with her husband with the money going to support GLIDE, a program that helps people out of poverty and homelessness. That first lunch, in 2000, went for $25,000.
Now, after being put on pause for the past two years, Buffett is bellying up to the table once again—only this, he says, will be the final one.
Bidding for the “Power of One” charity auction lunch with the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway will open on Sunday, June 12, at 10:30 p.m. ET on eBay.
People hoping to dine with the Oracle of Omaha will have five days to offer the highest amount. The winning bidder will meet Buffett at one of his favorite restaurants, Smith & Wollensky, in NYC, with up to seven friends in tow.
Given its significance as the last event, bidding for the lunch is expected to be high (and, to put that in perspective, since 2008, the winning bids have all exceeded $1 million). To date, the charity lunches have raised more than $34 million to support GLIDE.
Three years ago, at the last “Power of One” lunch, Justin Sun, the founder of cryptocurrency company Tron, won the bidding, paying nearly $4.6 million to dine with Buffett, topping the previous record by over $1 million.
(Buffett, famously, once called Bitcoin “probably rat poison squared.”)
The meal was postponed after Sun said he fell ill, but the two eventually met for dinner in February 2020.
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