By Tim Saunders on
A Chinese businessman jumped at the chance to dine with Warren Buffett for charity last week.
Hedge fund manager Zhao Danyang offered a winning bid of $2.1 million for a chance to have lunch with the Berkshire Hathaway chairman, with all profits going to Glide to benefit their programs for the hungry. The bid goes far beyond last year’s winning bid of $650,000, and 2006’s winning bid of $620,000.
“We danced in the streets there for a short time,” said the Rev. Cecil Williams from Glide. “The streets of San Francisco! We were dancing and singing!”
The 77-year-old billionaire also announced this week that he is donating 512,169 Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock to three charitable foundations in keeping with his plan to give away the bulk of his fortune. Most of the shares – worth $3,999 each and totaling over $2.1 billion – will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Buffett has already announced he will give 10 million shares to the Gates Foundation over the next few years, with a further 1 million shares going to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 350,000 shares for each of the three foundations run by his three children.
Copyright © 2008 Look to the Stars
