Buffett lunch costs $2.1m, but wisdom is what the fund wants
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Zhao Danyang, an investment fund manager from Hong Kong, hopes he will get more than heartburn when he finishes having lunch with Warren Buffett at the famous Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan shortly. As well as a very large bill he will need to leave with some newly gained wisdom.
Expensive it will have been. Mr Zhao made himself somewhat famous (and somewhat poorer also) at the end of last week by placing the winning bid in a charity auction on eBay for the privilege of taking lunch with Mr Buffett on a day of his choosing at the Midtown eatery.
True, Mr Zhao, whose fund is called the Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund, will also be allowed to bring along seven friends to enjoy the occasion. Even so, the amount he ended up paying – just over $2.1m (£1.05m) – seems a lot for great cuts of meat and decent conversation.
Indeed, it ended up, according to the folks from eBay, being the richest charity auction ever held on the site. Thus, whether or not it enriches Mr Zhao, it is very good news for Glide, the charity it will benefit, which is run by a United Methodist Church in San Francisco to help the city's many homeless people.
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Zhao Danyang, 36, will pay out the huge sum for the privilege of dining with Buffett, one of the world's richest men, at a Smith and Wollensky steakhouse restaurant in New York, a spokeswoman for the Glide Foundation, Denise Lamott, said.
"I believe he's a big fan," the spokeswoman said of Danyang, who runs the Hong Kong-based Pure Heart China Growth Investment Fund.
Lessons from Lunch with Warren Buffett
Posted by: Charles Sipe @ 7:53 AM
Guy Spier, one of the investors who helped pay the $650,100 winning eBay bid to have lunch with Warren Buffet, shared some of the lessons he learned from the greatest investor in the world in a recent Time article. While you may not be able to afford to pay more than $3,600 a minute for advice from the Sage of Omaha, you can still learn vicariously by reading some of Buffet’s enduring lessons on investing and on life.
Do the Right Thing Even if it’s Hard
Buffet has become one of the richest men in the world while never sacrificing the highest ethical standards. “People will always try to stop you doing the right thing if it is unconventional,” said Buffet.
Listen to Yourself, Not the Crowd
Buffet learned at an early age from his father that it is important to listen to yourself rather than seek the affirmation of others. Although he was heavily criticized for not investing with the crowd in technology and Internet stocks in the late '90s, he stuck to what he believed and turned out to be right. During the lunch he asked his guests, “Would you rather be considered the best lover in the world and know privately that you're the worst — or would you prefer to know privately that you're the best lover in the world, but be considered the worst?"
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Buffet said that he limits contact with the managers of businesses that he invests in, choosing rather to examine the company’s financial records. By relying on the numbers he is able to focus on neutral information and prevent outside noise from affecting his decisions.
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