What Would You Pay for Lunch With Warren Buffett? Bidding Stands at Record $12 Million

The final day of bidding for Warren Buffett’s last charity lunch just got interesting.

As late as Thursday evening, the highest bid for a chance to eat with the billionaire investor and as many as seven guests at Smith & Wollensky in New York stood just above $3 million. But the amount jumped more than threefold to $11 million at 11:03 a.m. Friday in New York, then increased to $12.3 million within a half hour.

Whoever wins the bidding war will easily shatter the record set in 2019 by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, who paid $4.57 million for the meal with the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chairman and chief executive officer. This year, there appears to be a back and forth between two of the five anonymous prospective diners, with a total of 34 bids so far.