The rules really don’t apply to billionaires: In 2022, business magnate Warren Buffet swore that after more than two decades of charitable lunches, he would auction off his final meal on behalf of the GLIDE Foundation.
That year, the auction lot raised $19 million from an anonymous bidder on behalf of GLIDE, an anti-poverty, pro-social justice organization based in San Francisco, California. As part of that auction’s allure, Buffett said that iteration of his “Power of One” charity auction lunch, with its prize of a meal (usually hosting the winning bidder and up to seven guests at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse in New York City), would be his last.
But Buffett, who stepped away from his position as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025 while retaining his chairman title, was not done wielding a knife and fork on behalf of GLIDE. Earlier this month, he joined with lifestyle entrepreneur Ayesha Curry and her husband, four-time champion point guard for the Golden State Warriors Steph Curry, to offer an “A Seat at the Table,” dining experience. The meal will be held in Omaha, Nebraska on June 24, a few months before Buffett’s 96th birthday.
The 2026 auction was held via eBay for Charity during the week leading up to May 14. The winning bid was $9.000,100. Buffett is matching the winning bid, with the proceeds being split between GLIDE and the Currys’ Eat, Learn, Play. Foundation, which provides children with nutritious food, resources to help them learn to and love reading and equitable opportunities to play. The 2026 meal marks the first time the Currys and Buffett have joined forces on an auction meal package.
Since 2000, the meal with Buffett concept has raised more than $50 million for GLIDE. The auction also included lots of items signed by Buffett and the Currys. Totals raised for those items were not released.
“We are absolutely delighted by the success of this year’s auction and so deeply grateful to everyone who made it possible,” Gina Fromer, president and CEO of GLIDE, said via a statement. “Our heartfelt thanks to Warren Buffett, Stephen and Ayesha Curry, and the incredible winning bidder for coming together in such a meaningful way. We are also proud to stand alongside Eat. Learn. Play. in celebrating what this partnership has made possible for our communities.”
The first lunch with Buffett, in 2000, went for $25,000, but since 2008 winning bids topped $1 million, with 2019’s lunch fetching a then-record high of nearly $4.6 million. Buffett did not offer the package in 2020 or 2021 due to the coronavirus.
“Over the past two decades, this auction has demonstrated what’s possible when influence is used in service of others,” Chris Helfrich, CEO of Eat. Learn. Play, said via a statement. “What began as a bold idea to support GLIDE’s mission has evolved into one of philanthropy’s most meaningful platforms for impact. We’re proud to help usher in this next chapter alongside Stephen and Ayesha Curry and Eat. Learn. Play., expanding the reach of this initiative to support tens of thousands of kids and students across the Bay Area. This is about more than access — it’s about creating tangible opportunities for young people, advancing equity and investing in lasting change now and into the moments of continued need.”
