Whip and Stir

A Hongkong based Chinese investment fund manager of Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund won the chance to have lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett by bidding $2.1 million in the most expensive charity auction ever held on eBay.

Zhao Danyang won the auction,with a winning bid of $2,110,100.



The Glide Foundation will receive all the proceeds from the auction.The auction will provide a significant boost to Glide, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco. The foundation operates on a $12 million annual budget.

It appears that Zhao and Buffett share a similar investment philosophy.

Zhao and up to seven friends will dine with Buffett at the Smith Wollensky steakhouse in New York City whenever the two men can schedule it. Last year's winners collected their prize only last month.The investment philosophy Zhao's fund describes on its Web site is similar to Buffett's approach of finding companies with an enduring competitive advantage that are selling for significantly less then they are worth.

Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is primarily known for his investing success. Berkshire owns more than 60 subsidiaries including insurance, clothing, furniture, jewelry and candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate jet firms and has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co., Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Wells Fargo Co.

But Buffett is also known for his philanthropy.

In 2006, he announced his plan to give away the bulk of his nearly $49 billion fortune over time. Most of his shares of Berkshire stock will go to five charitable foundations, with the largest going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Buffett has been auctioning off lunches online for six years but began auctioning the lunches for Glide off-line in 2000. He offers only one lunch a year.