Someone paid $19 million for a steak lunch with Warren Buffett

By Zoe Sottile, CNN

There really is no such thing as a free lunch.

An anonymous bidder paid a record-breaking $19 million for a private steak lunch with legendary investor Warren Buffett. The sale was part of the 21st annual auction for a lunch with Buffett, produced in collaboration with eBay and the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco-based non-profit working on combating poverty, hunger, and homelessness.

The bidding started with $25,000 on June 12 and ended with $19,000,100 from an anonymous bidder on Friday, according to a news release from eBay.

This year’s huge sum is more than four times the winning bid of $4,567,888 in 2019 — the last auction before a hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 2019’s winner was cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.

The mystery winner will enjoy a private lunch with Buffett and up to seven guests at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse in New York City, says eBay.

Unfortunately for aspiring investors hoping to top this year’s record, this is the last year of the “power lunch” with Buffett. The annual auction has raised over $53 million for Glide.

“On behalf of GLIDE and those we serve, I thank Warren Buffett for his unwavering generosity, partnership and dedication, and for his incredible contribution to our mission,” said the organization’s president and CEO Karen Hanrahan in the news release.

The auction was first started by the late Susie Buffett in 2000. Since 2003, eBay has managed the auction.

“We are incredibly proud that Warren Buffett’s final Power Lunch has broken our all-time record of funds raised, with all proceeds supporting GLIDE’s efforts to create pathways out of crisis and transform lives,” said eBay CEO Jamie Iannone in the release.

Corrected: An earlier version of this article misspelled Warren Buffett.

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