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Warren Buffett charity lunch auction opens on EBay with $25,000 bid
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Bidding on EBay Inc.’s website opened Sunday evening in the U.S. at $25,000 as the billionaire investor is again offering a chance to pick his brain over lunch at a New York steakhouse. (Bloomberg/File)
W
arren Buffett has raised close to $30 million for a San Francisco charity with 19 years of annual auctions, and he’s not finished yet.
Bidding on EBay Inc.’s website opened Sunday evening in the U.S. at $25,000 as the billionaire investor is again offering a chance to pick his brain over lunch at a New York steakhouse. The weeklong auction benefits Glide, whose programs address hunger, poverty and homelessness.
The tech boom has generated billions of dollars in personal fortunes in San Francisco and adjoining Silicon Valley, driving up living costs and contributing to a housing crisis. The city’s department of homelessness says that around 8,000 people are on the streets. Glide Chief Executive Officer Karen Hanrahan said she’s seeing longer lines of needy folks outside the charity’s doors.
“It’s not just in numbers, it’s also the changing nature of who is in our line,” Hanrahan said in a phone interview. “We see a growing number of people who have jobs and sometimes have homes but are really just hanging on by a thread.”
A surge in homelessness escalates demand for a range of services from Glide, including meals and treatment for addiction or mental-health issues. Growing wealth in a major U.S. city carries with it an increase in homelessness and inequality, Hanrahan said.
Read also: Bezos, Gates and Buffett still top the world's ultra rich: Forbes
“There are some people who think if economies are growing it’s going to lift more people up,” she said. “But the reality is that the number of people falling into poverty and unable to afford housing, food and other necessities is outstripping the number of people who might be lifted up by a growing economy.”
The 20th annual auction would need to raise around $3.46 million to beat the record set by an anonymous bidder in 2012. The first auction brought in $25,000 in 2000, and last year’s bidding topped out at $3.3 million. Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said the money is desperately needed in San Francisco.
“It makes a difference, and it translates into human beings finding that there is hope in life,” Buffett, 88, said in a statement. “The rest of the society may have given up on them, but Glide is going to give them a chance.”
The winning bidder gets to bring seven friends to a lunch with the famed investor at Smith & Wollensky in Manhattan. The auction is set to end at 7:30 p.m. San Francisco time on May 31.
Year - Winner - Winning - Bid
- 2000 Anonymous $25,000
- 2001 Anonymous $18,000
- 2002 Anonymous $25,000
- 2003 David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital $250,100
- 2004 Jason Choo, Singapore $202,100
- 2005 Anonymous $351,100
- 2006 Yongping Duan, California $620,100
- 2007 Mohnish Pabrai, Guy Spier, Harina Kapoor $650,100
- 2008 Zhao Danyang, Pure Heart Asset Management $2,110,100
- 2009 Salida Capital, Canada $1,680,300
- 2010 Ted Weschler $2,626,311
- 2011 Ted Weschler $2,626,411
- 2012 Anonymous $3,456,789
- 2013 Anonymous $1,000,100
- 2014 Andy Chua, Singapore $2,166,766
- 2015 Zhu Ye, Dalian Zeus Entertainment Co. $2,345,678
- 2016 Anonymous $3,456,789
- 2017 Anonymous $2,679,001
- 2018 Anonymous $3,300,100
