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Warren Buffett
Photo: Nati Harnik / AP
Investor and multi-billionaire Warren Buffett has been auctioning off lunch for a good cause for 20 years.
An anonymous bidder paid $19 million for a lunch with Buffett and seven guests at an eBay auction.
An eBay spokeswoman said the lunch was the most expensive item ever sold on the company's website for charity.
The meal with the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway was offered to benefit San Francisco-based charity GLIDE, which helps the homeless and those living in poverty.
Since the auction began in 2000, Buffett has raised $53 million for GLIDE.
The charity was supported by the billionaire when his first wife Susie introduced him to the organization after she started volunteering there.
She died in 2004.
The meal takes place in a New York steakhouse.
With side dishes and an appetizer, a steak starts at around $100—the price of the meal is included in the auction.
This year's event will be the first private luncheon with the 91-year-old billionaire since 2019.
At that time, the auction brought in a record value of 4.5 million dollars.
In 2020 and 2021 the auctions were canceled due to the corona pandemic.
Buffett had announced in advance that the last such auction would be in 2022.
The first buffet lunch was auctioned in 2000 for $25,000.
As previous winners have reported, Buffett never gave any investment advice at the dinners.
Most of the time it was more about politics and private matters.
Like this year's winner, several other previous winners have chosen to remain anonymous.
A previous winner, Ted Weschler, received a job offer from Buffett's company after spending nearly $5.3 million in two auctions in 2010 and 2011.
svs/AP