Buffett Charity Lunch Sells for $2.63 Million

A steak lunch at Smith & Wollensky in Manhattan starts at $36.50. The same lunch, eaten in the company of legendary investor Warren Buffett, costs approximately $2.63 million.

That was the final result of the annual online charity auction for lunch with the “Oracle of Omaha,” which ended late Friday night. A total of two bidders entered eight bids in the eBay auction, which started last Sunday.

The final bid was actually for just under $2.35 million, but the anonymous winner added to that after the auction to surpass last year’s winning bid by $111, organizers said.

Interest was much lower than in 2010, when nine bidders made a total of 77 bids for the luncheon.

The proceeds benefit GLIDE, a San Francisco charity that Buffett was introduced to by his late first wife, Susan.

Buffett, 80, is the chief executive of the insurance-to-ice-cream conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and one of the world’s richest men.

His fondness for red meat is also well known; during Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha he urges investors to visit his favorite steakhouses for a T-bone steak or two.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Paul Simao)