The bidder, who chose to be anonymous will be spending an unforgettable afternoon with Warren Buffet and seven other guests at the famous Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse in New York City. "It's been nothing but good," Warren Buffett was quoted about the lunch in the press release from eBay. "I've met a lot of interesting people from all over the world. The one universal characteristic is that they feel the money is going to be put to very good uses,"
The bid for charity lunch started at $25,000 (19 lakh) on June 12 and ended with $19,000,100 ( ₹43cr) from an anonymous bidder on June 17, according to the press release.
Over the past 21 years, the winning bids have ranged from $25,000 to this year's highest-ever bid of $19 million. Due to a two-year pandemic hiatus, the last auction took place in 2019 with a winning bid of $4.5mn ( ₹35.6cr), making this year's bid 4 times higher. For the past 18 years, eBay has powered the Warren Buffett Power of One lunch on the eBay for Charity platform, opening the auction from just local donors to eBay's global charitable community. 2019's winner was cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.
"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.
Unfortunately, this was the last 'power lunch with Buffett, so those who were thinking of breaking this record may have to find other options!
