Warren Buffett's last lunch auction fetches record $19 million bid

Warren Buffett has cemented his legacy as one of the most expensive lunch guests of all time.

The winning bid in a benefit auctioning off a chance to dine with the billionaire investor clocked in at $19 million, according to the Ebay listing, securing an anonymous bidder and up to seven guests a meal with the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chairman and chief executive officer at Smith & Wollensky in New York.

The auction to raise money for San Francisco-based charity Glide opened Sunday with a starting price of $25,000. By Monday, bids crept past $2 million. The competition took a sharp turn Friday, the last day of bidding, with one potential diner placing an $11 million bid that sparked a costly tug-of-war. A final-minute bid lifted the eventual price to $19 million. 

The whopping sum easily surpassed the previous record set by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, who paid $4.57 million to win the auction in 2019. The event wasn’t held in 2020 or 2021 because of the pandemic.

The auction’s biggest-ever year will also be its last. Since it started in 2000, the benefit has raised more than $53 million to support Glide, which offers programs to address poverty and homelessness, particularly in San Francisco.

Winning bids across the years have come from financial figures like hedge fund manager David Einhorn. Ted Weschler bid more than $5 million combined over two auctions before Berkshire hired him as an investment manager.

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

2019

Justin Sun, Tron  $4,567,888

2022

Unknown  $19,000,100