Buffett lunch goes for $351,000

Warren Buffett knows his stocks and shares

A mystery bidder appears to have won an auction to have lunch with billionaire US investment guru Warren Buffett, after offering $351,000 (�197,000).

According to website eBay, which handled the week-long auction, the winning bidder was "hanka3153".

He or she and up to seven friends can now enjoy a lunch with Mr Buffett, either in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, or in New York City.

Mr Buffett has donated a lunch for charity every year since 2000.

His chosen cause is the San Francisco-based Glide Foundation, which provides services for the poor, hungry and homeless.

This year's winning bidder beat Singapore resident Jason Choo, who won the auction last year with a bid of $202,100.

Financial royalty

For all Mr Buffett's modesty and desire to eschew of the spotlight, the 74-year-old so-called "Sage of Omaha" is as close as the financial world gets to a superstar.

The returns he has generated have won him a loyal investor base and turned many of his followers into multi-millionaires.

Had you given Mr Buffett $10,000 in 1965, by 1999 that nest egg would have been worth more than $50m.

Shares in his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway are currently trading at $83,000 each.

Mr Buffett is not one for fads and has built his investment empire on the maxim that it is better to identify a good investment and hold it for a long time, rather than jump in and out of positions.

The world's second-richest person behind Microsoft founder Bill Gates, he famously sat out the whole internet boom.

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