Warren Buffett's sixth annual charity lunch saw its largest ever winning bid when Zhao Danyang of the Hong Kong-based Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund proffered $2,110,100 to break bread with the Oracle of Omaha. Last year, the proceeds of the auction, all of which go to the Glide Foundation, fetched $650,100. For those of you completely justifiably envious of Danyang's 3-hour sit down with Buffett, consider us your official peephole on the meal, where the conversation is likely to go something like this:
Danyang: So, what are you thinking about having?
Buffett: I don't know, I always feel so overwhelmed by big menus.
Danyang: I've heard the burger's good
Buffett: Yeah. You know what a burger's like? A burger's like me, on a Russ Meyer set, screwing all the extras whose breasts make Liz Claman's look like child's play which is better than doing it in a whorehouse cause you don't have to pay.
Danyang: ...
Buffett: Makes sense if you think about it.
In related news, Buffett visited a Dairy Queen in Omaha yesterday to sample the new Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie Blizzard and "chatted with six area Girl Scouts." I'm not going to touch that one.
Earlier: And Yet, This Is Still Preferable To Ace Greenberg Giving Us Intimate Details About Barbara Walters
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 11:42AM
How did no one pick up on this line from the Time article (http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1819293,00.html?cnn=yes):
"It's very important to live your life by an internal yardstick," he told us, noting that one way to gauge whether or not you do so is to ask the question, Would you rather be considered the best lover in the world and know privately that you're the worst — or would you prefer to know privately that you're the best lover in the world, but be considered the worst?
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 11:51AM
What a waste of $2Mil. WTF is Mr. Buff going to teach some f'n idiot from China about life in 3 hours that's worth $2Mil? Mr. Buff certainly isn't going to reveal any secret investment formulae that the f'n idiot from China is hoping to get. HaHaHa. Mr. Buff's joke is on the idiot who's firm donated $2Mil to Mr. Buff's favorite charity. HaHaHa.
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 11:54AM
HOLY CRAP!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/business/03bayou.html?hp
Sam Israel surrenders to cops!
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 11:54AM
USD$2MM buys a shitload of Astro-Glide for the foundation although Warren prefers Elbow Grease I'm told
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 11:55AM
@11:51 Yeah, the guy that donated $2mil totally did an ROI evaluation.
Tool, buddy.
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 12:02PM
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080701/NEWS0107/307010049
trading sex for gas cards now.
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 12:12PM
Last time I looked, Buffett still had the "scoreboard".
All the sucker IBs call him "Sire".
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 12:15PM
God Bless you for the Russ Meyer comment! Uschi, Kitten, Raven......oh the memories!
Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill !!
Posted by Lowly Assistant , Jul 02, 2008 12:20PM
@12:15, hahah! Nice!
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 12:28PM
Even the "Uptown Girl's" husband allegedly got tired of her.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-07-02-brinkleydivorce_N.htm
Posted by moneyman , Jul 02, 2008 12:33PM
It's pretty clear Buffett will always prefer to have lunch with Liz Claman. That Fox Business babe could get way more than 2 mill from me!
Posted by a dead horse , Jul 02, 2008 12:34PM
It's very easy for people who don't have the money to say that spending 2m on a lunch isn't reasonable.
Posted by Gordon Gekko , Jul 02, 2008 12:40PM
Carney, how bout you put up a contest like this on the main page?? Now this is an eating challenge, not some lame "4-Egg McMuffins with no egg, if you could, but don't try too hard to force it down for the sake of your own dignity" excuse for a contest a couple weeks ago.
http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/07/01/eating-all-12-mcdonalds-meals-in-one-sitting-fail/
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 12:50PM
@gekko-- carney is not the one running the contests around here.
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 1:00PM
The real fund raiser is a lunch with Bess. I'll start the bidding at $500 + a case of MHL.
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 1:02PM
buffet annualized return over the past 10 years is under 5%.
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 1:06PM
@deadhorse,
Are you implying that you have an extra frivolous $2Mil lying around to spend on a lunch with someone who is not going to give you anything in return that even remotely resembles $2Mil? That idiot's lunch with Mr. Buff has no ROI that's worth anything.
Are you naive enough to believe that Mr. Buff actually told that idiot anything new that he couldn't already find in any of a number of $5 paperback self-help books?
Talk about money; what a dumbass comment you made. BTW, how's your job holding up?
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 1:27PM
@ 1:06
what makes you think that @deadhorse is talking about his own money? He's making the point that for some people, large sums of money can be a drop in the bucket (particuarly when its going to charity). I about to guess that you are on the sell side, but on reflection you must clearly be a back office guy...
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 1:59PM
@1:27,
Do you mean then that we're not supposed to talk about something we think is ludicrous because $2Mil might be a "drop in the bucket" for a very few?
The @deadhorse entry seemed to indicate that he was hinting at his own resources.
As for the charity angle, that idiot is from china, his firm is from China, he's an unknown in the US, and he's not going to get some tax benefit in China for donating $2Mil to a US charity. He was trying to make a name for himself.
A wise investor would look at him and think that the idiot has poor judgement with money. Would you invest with that idiot?
One last thing. In case you don't know it, and I think you don't, the Chinese people are in general an extremely selfish and greedy lot. They will not do a damn thing for anyone unless there is a bigger something in it for them. They are not a charitable bunch.
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 2:03PM
hear hear for gross generalizations about the Chinese!
Posted by Anal_yst , Jul 02, 2008 2:05PM
@ Gordon Gekko
The real contest is here, http://www.eaglesdeli.com/
the contest: "our Challenge burger which is 5lbs of beef, 20 slices of cheese, 20 slices of bacon and of course what’s a burger without fries, and our challenge burger comes with 5lbs of fries!"
Thats what I'm talking about!
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 2:08PM
@Anal_yst
One of those could feed an entire BofA intern class for the summer
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 2:08PM
I'm not liking the slant on these Chinese comments.
Posted by Gordon Gekko , Jul 02, 2008 2:22PM
@Anal_yst
might want to hold the cheese, some of those poor snowflakes might be lactose intolerant...wouldn't want them feeling uncomfortable or anything
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 2:23PM
@2:08(#2), So what? Do you dispute them?
Posted by a dead horse , Jul 02, 2008 2:34PM
I wasn't talking about my own money and I never said I was. My job is going very well, thanks. I don't have the kind of money where I can blow 2 mil on a lunch, but I also know that I don't have that kind of money.
It's very easy to judge from your own perspective. You really have no idea what his ROI is or even what he'll get out of it. You (we?) view 2 mil as a big deal, but to some people it's not and to some people, just eating lunch with "Buff" is more than worth it.
Do your ROI analysis if you want. Let me know, when 2 mil becomes pocket change for you, if your analysis stays the same.
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 2:37PM
@1:06 go away, nobody likes you.
@2:08 haha awesome.
@deadhorse whatevs i hear you if i had a few billion to kick around i would totally drop 2 mil on lunch with Buffet. his charity work is solid and it seems like it would be a very nice and entertaining way to spend the afternoon.
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 3:00PM
@2:37 sounds like a PC obama supporter. haha.
Posted by Anal_yst , Jul 02, 2008 3:05PM
@ 2:08
I'm pretty sure that could feed ALL of BofA (at least in NYC) for the whole summer at this point
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 3:09PM
Umm...I ate lunch at Gorat's with Buffett for the low, low price of MBA tuition. These bidders got hosed.
Buffett speaks with school groups gratis and then comps them lunch all the time. (See recent Fortune article.) And he even took pix with everyone (that's a fun office chotchke)!
Best part of meeting Buffett--I found out funny facts like 1) he likes to tell fun dirty grandpa jokes 2) he really is a sage--so wise and so funny and 3) he was an early supporter of the pro-life movement...who knew?
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 3:25PM
@3:09,
@1:06 here. Like I said initially, that idiot from China was dumb to spend $2Mil on the same lunch that you and the school groups got for free.
What's with all the PC multicultural hatred coming my way? That asshole from China thought he was getting an inside track into the investment mind of the sage. What he got is some funny stories.
To the white PC liberal multicultural crowd...That asshole from china thought he was getting some secrets from Mr. Buff. He was wrong. He does not understand Americans.
@2:37, Hey dipshit, stick your head up your ass. Go do some investment advice for the fucking ACLU.
Posted by byrneseyeview , Jul 02, 2008 3:37PM
3:09
I thought Buffett was an early pro-choice guy. Didn't Munger write an amicus in Roe v. Wade?
Posted by guest , Jul 02, 2008 7:11PM
I think Buffet is pro-choice, too.
Posted by guest , Aug 22, 2008 10:32AM
Buffet has sex hangups. His yap was been peppered with sex-non-sequitirs the only time I bothered to read something he said 10 years ago.