Every year, billionaire investor (and the only person in America who’d like to pay higher taxes) Warren Buffett auctions off a lunch at New York’s Smith & Wollensky steakhouse, with the proceeds going to the Glide Foundation, which serves San Francisco’s homeless population. Last night’s winning bid of $3,456,789 — number series! — from an anonymous bidder is the most yet paid for a few hours of the Sage of Omaha’s time. What is this lucky one-percenter expecting to get in return for their seven-figure sum, you may wonder? Ironically, not trading advice. A job? True, the ex-hedge fund manager who won the previous two lunches (cost: $5.3 million) is now heading up Berkshire Hathaway’s investment portfolio, but Buffett doesn’t quite see that happening again. Chances are the lunch conversation will steer towards philanthropy, which Buffett claims is how these things often go ever since he became the poster boy for the “Give Your Fortune Away” club.
