In 2000, in order to support philanthropy, Buffett, the 70-year-old "stock god" at the time, began public auctions of opportunities to have lunch with him.
For more than two decades, various investors have competed for this annual lunch opportunity. The auction is coming back in June after two years of absence due to the pandemic, but it is said that this may be his last auction private luncheon.
The fates of those who have bid for lunch opportunities with Buffett at high prices are not the same, some continue to be in the capital market, some have become famous and retreat, and some have taken a sharp turn for the worse.
But everyone who participated in this sky-high lunch got more or less what they wanted.
Buffett Lunch,
For those who can't eat lunch?
"Buffett's Lunch" is usually located at a steakhouse called Smith & Wollensky in Manhattan, New York. There's nothing special about the restaurant except for the seats with Buffett's name tag on the side of the restaurant's kitchen and the picture of Buffett on the wall.
In fact, Buffett chose this place only because it is a restaurant that he often comes to "have a light meal".
Buffett's wife, Susan, has volunteered at a charitable organization called the Glade Foundation. In 2000, with her matchmaking, the Foundation partnered with Buffett to start a lunch auction for charity. Auction winners can bring up to 7 people to the luncheon; futures, investment, company management... Any topic can be discussed with Buffett at the dinner table.
Source: Wall Street Insights
Peter Badron, the first to have lunch with Buffett, was a 35-year-old Internet practitioner at the time, and it is said that when he first participated in the auction, he did not know that Buffett would sit next to him, and Buffett himself admitted that he had only crept into the "computer world" for a short time.
Although lunches always start at $25,000, they have set record prices again and again since they switched to online auctions in 2003. With the active participation of entrepreneurs around the world, the auction for lunch with Buffett has raised more than $34 million. Several, such as Jim Haprun, Scott Tillson, and Ted Whistler, had dinner with Buffett twice.
The proceeds of the auctions, which were entirely donated to the Glade Foundation, were used to provide food, medical care and vocational education to the homeless and low-income populations in San Francisco. This lunch for those who have no lunch to eat has long been a topic that must be paid attention to in the eyes of the rich.
Ostensibly to learn and pay tribute,
What is the actual purpose?
Looking back at the list of people who openly participated in Buffett's lunch auction, it is not difficult to find that the people who want to get the opportunity to talk with Buffett are concentrated in the field of investment.
Buffett himself focuses on stocks, fund investments, and in recent years when he seems to be "not so hard", he has always hovered 4-6 on the global rich list.
Among the people who want to eat with him, most of them are hedge fund managers, investment fund group partners, CEOs of wealth management companies, and there are also founders of emerging virtual currencies in recent years.
The winning bidders in the 2003 lunch auction, Hedge Fund Manager David Eindhoven, and Ted Whistler, an investment manager who had successfully bid for two consecutive years, are still active in the investment community. The former had an impact on the world economic situation because of its short-selling Lehman Brothers investment operations; the latter became Buffett's successor candidate because he got Buffett's mention at lunch.
There are also two Singaporean businessmen, Jason Chua and Andy Choi, who are jewelry companies and slimming and beauty businessmen, and the most high-profile entry in their resumes is estimated to be the person who has had lunch with Buffett.
The original intention of most bidders is simple: they hope to exchange investment experience with Buffett and pay tribute to the "god of stocks", of course, this is the original intention of most bidders, and Duan Yongping, the first Chinese businessman to successfully bid, is no exception.
Buffett and Duan Yongping
In 2006, Duan Yongping, the founder of Xiaobawang and BBK, auctioned buffett lunch for nearly 5 million yuan. Prior to this, he had gradually transformed from an entrepreneur to an investor through self-study. Duan Yongping claimed that in the process of reading and learning, he suddenly opened up after reading Buffett's perception of stock investment. In 2002, Duan Yongping recaptured netease stocks that had plummeted at the time, and then successfully reaped dozens of times returns in two years because of its stock price climbing, and was once known as China's "Duan Feit".
Duan Yongping said that he filmed the lunch because he just wanted to report his learning results to Buffett and want Buffett to know that what he did was valuable. After lunch, Duan Yongping is still active in the investment track, he participated in the founding and investment of OPPO, VIVO and other well-known domestic smart phone brands, and this year also posted his own investment in Tencent stocks.
And Huang Zheng, a young man who was invited to lunch by Duan Yongping, probably did gain something from this meal. The following year, he left Google and started a business, single-handedly creating Pinduoduo, a retail giant that today makes everyone feel overwhelmed and "please help me cut a knife".
Let Buffett change the rules,
Bidders who can make a lot of money
Whenever the name of the winning bidder in Buffett's lunch auction is announced, it is inevitable that negative public opinion will follow. It is also for this reason that there have been many anonymous bidders in auctions over the years.
However, Zhao Danyang, a securities investor who had a chance to take a lunch in 2008, was unusual. He recommended to Buffett at the dinner table his "Wumei Business" stock, and out of courtesy, Buffett said that he would "go back and see", but after he spread the news, the stock unsurprisingly soared by four days, and Zhao Danyang also made $16.8 million as a result — not only to recover the cost of the lunch auction, but also to make more than ten million in tears.
Buffett and Zhao Danyang
After that, Buffett's lunch, which was originally full of taboos, set the first rule: you can't talk about individual stocks at the dinner table.
Even so, some people have found opportunities to make money. In 2015, after Zhu Ye, the chairman of Tianshen Entertainment, took a lunch opportunity, he thought of a way to make the lunch "return" as soon as possible. Since you can't talk about individual stocks, talk about your own company. After this lunch, the stock price of Tianshen Entertainment rose by more than 90% at one point, and the photos of Zhu Ye and his wife, friends and Buffett talking and laughing also rushed to the headlines of major media.
Nowadays, Zhao Danyang, who was the first to think of making the most of his lunch and making Buffett have to change the rules, is still a legend in the domestic investment community that cannot be ignored. His company owns two funds issued overseas, both of which yielded 50% last year.
In contrast, Zhu Ye, who "followed the trend" operation, embarked on a downward spiral after lunch, the company's huge losses thundered, there was a debt default, and Zhu Ye was also investigated by the CSRC for suspected violations of relevant laws and regulations. Taking advantage of the opportunity to have lunch with Buffett may save a moment, but it is unlikely to save the winning bidder's long-term investment and development.
Buffett's lunch was over
Speculator "Cover Image of Circle of Friends"
If "recommending" stocks and companies to Buffett at lunch is still a "reasonable opportunity to use," fund manager Guy Spear can be said to have squeezed out all the value of the lunch.
In addition to using dongfeng to promote the fund he runs, after he bid for lunch with investment guru Monish Paperle in 2007, Spear turned talking about the meal into his "long-term side hustle". His book "5 Truths I Had an Epiphany at Lunch with Buffett" continued to sell well and became an indispensable "must-read book for investment and financial management" in the Chinese and English book lists; Spiel also continued to give speeches and lectures on this topic in the following decade; and opened his own podcast and video dialogue column.
Use Buffett's lunch to enrich his resume, and spare Buffett is not the only one who endorses his life. In 2019, Sun Yuchen, who has the most titles in the currency circle, announced in a high-profile manner that he had photographed buffett lunch that year, which made Buffett's lunch that has not been in the public eye for many years rush to the hot search overnight.
Sun Yuchen, a man with the following experience: Forbes Asia 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30, the founder of the blockchain project "Tron", the author of the Internet red youth literature "This World is Cruel and Gentle"... In his life history, at every key juncture, he has been opportunistic and successful, and the auction with Buffett for lunch is no exception.
The highest bidding price in history of $4.568 million, announcing that he would install a virtual currency wallet on Buffett's mobile phone on the spot, saying that his kidney stones became the first person to release Buffett's pigeons before lunch began... Before the meal was eaten, there was no one in all of China who did not know Sun Yuchen's name.
In this meal, Buffett is like the former president of the United States who was fooled by the intermediary agency to attend the annual meeting of micro-business in China, and was unconsciously used by Sun Yuchen to endorse himself. In January 2020, the belated lunch turned into dinner was finally cashed in, and Sun Yuchen announced that he had given Buffett a mobile phone containing cryptocurrency.
Unlike the presidential group photo sent by the micro-business agent in the circle of friends, because he stood up in time to accept the interview, Buffett is still not "late and not guaranteed". In February 2020, he hastily clarified in an interview that the meal did not change his view of virtual currencies, and cryptocurrencies are still worthless in his eyes.
Final Buffett lunch
Buffett is now 92 years old, and the upcoming lunch auction in June will be the last of this charity event. The lunch auction will go live on the e-commerce platform eBay on June 12, and the starting price is still $25,000. After the five-day auction is over, the successful bidder who has passed the qualification will be able to bring 7 accompanying guests to have lunch with Buffett at a fixed seat at the Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse.
Once upon a time, this "eat a meal less" lunch attracted the world's top investors, who wanted to learn advice, wanted to show respect and gratitude, wanted to participate in charity, wanted to speculate on gold, every successful bidder asked for benevolence, Buffett and the Glader Foundation behind him also raised funds as desired. Today, when the international economic situation is not stable, in the face of this last lunch opportunity, I don't know what kind of mood the winning bidder will bring to the banquet.
References:
Daily Economic News: The last "Buffett Lunch" is coming! What happened to the investors who won the bid?
Dazhong Daily: Buffett's last lunch will be auctioned How are the people who have eaten with him in those years?
Interface News: 30 million beats of Buffett lunch: Sun Yuchen's "packaged" life
Xinhua Net: Buffett Lunch Auction: Zhao Danyang made 130 million yuan after the stock became taboo
Author: Bonsai, Jonas
Edit: Sebastian
Some of the image sources come from Visual China
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