Bidding for the 20th annual charity auction for a "Power Lunch with Warren Buffett," has ended, with an anonymous winner taking the prize with a final bid of $4,567,888.
The lunch is presented by eBay and the Glide Foundation and will be held at the famed steakhouse Smith & Wollensky in New York City.
The auction was hosted exclusively on eBay, with final bids due Friday, May 31, at 7:30 p.m. PT. Past winners include David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital and Ted Weschler, now part of Buffett's investment team.
As in previous years, 100 percent of the proceeds donated to the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco-based charity which provides local services to the homeless. The foundation is associated with the Memorial United Methodist Church and was founded over fifty years ago by Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani.
The annual lunch, which started in 2000, has raised over $30 million for the non-profit. Buffett's late wife, Susan Thompson Buffett,was a well-known resident and philanthropist in San Francisco.
Per the bidding website, GLIDE is described as "a radically inclusive, just and loving community mobilized to alleviate suffering and break the cycles of poverty and marginalization.
"Glide's mission is to break the cycles of multi-generational dependency, poverty, and low self-worth by providing a spiritual home of unconditional love. Glide strives to create a healthy community by offering effective services that foster holistic healing in an environment of cultural integrity and diversity."
Similar to Berkshire Hathaway's stock price, the cost of a winning bid has risen substantially over the years. In 2000, the winning bid was $25,000 while the 2019's winning bid of $4.6 million, an increase of 187 times. In the same time period, Berkshire Hathaway's stock price has risen a mere 5.5 times.
This story originally appeared on Business Insider
