Ever since 2000, US investment giant Warren Buffett has held an annual auction for Glide, a San Francisco homeless charity. The prize is a steak lunch with the 84-year-old Sage of Omaha himself. The winners can take up to eight people to meet him. Since 2003, when the auction went online to eBay, prices have surged.
In 2003, renowned short seller David Einhorn paid $250,100. Prices peaked in 2012, when an anonymous bidder paid $3.4m. They then dipped to $1m before bouncing back. Dalian Zeus Entertainment, a Chinese online games development company, won this year’s meal; its winning bid was $3.2m.
Prices for the Buffett lunch have risen much faster than shares in Buffett’s investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway, or restaurant meals in general, notes the FT’s Stephen Foley. The price of the lunch is up by 838% since 2003, while the cost of the food is only up 41%.