$1,000,100.
That’s how much an anonymous bidder paid Friday night at a charity auction for lunch with Berkshire Hathaway billionaire Warren Buffett. In exchange for his or her winning bid, the claimant can bring seven friends to dine with Buffett at the New York steakhouse Smith & Wollensky at a mutually agreed upon date.
All proceeds of the auction, which was run by eBay Giving Works, will benefit GLIDE, a San Francisco-based anti-poverty nonprofit. Founded 50 years ago by Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani, GLIDE provides, on average, nearly 2,400 meals every day as part of its Daily Free Meals Program.
Now in its 14th year, the annual eBay Auction for Power Lunch with Warren Buffet has raised nearly $15 million for GLIDE’s programs.
Williams and Mirikitani were present at a viewing party at San Francisco’s Restaurant Lulu Friday night to watch the final minutes of the auction tick by. While the amount raised did not match the record $3.46 million raised by the auction last year, both were still positive by the results of the auction.
“A million dollars is nothing to sneeze at,” Mirikitani said to the gathered crowd at LuLu, before asking everyone to raise a glass and toast the success of the auction.
“We’re not down, but up! said Williams.