Joining NBA superstar Curry, Buffett reinitiates charity lunch auction

On March 31 local time, “Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffett—who stepped down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway—announced in an interview that he will restart the famous charity lunch auction. The event will be held with Stephen Curry and Ayesha Curry, a couple who are four-time NBA champions and two-time MVPs, for a brand-new charity lunch.

The online auction for this lunch will begin on the eBay platform at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time on May 7 and run until 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time on May 14. Proceeds will be donated to the Glide Foundation and to the Eat.Learn.Play.Foundation, which was founded by the Curry family. The former provides services to underserved populations, including meals, housing, health checkups, and job training; the latter is dedicated to promoting children’s literacy, nutrition, and active lifestyles.

The winning bidder may bring up to seven guests, and on June 24 in Omaha, Nebraska, the group will enjoy an exclusive lunch with Buffett and the Curry couple. Auction proceeds will be split evenly between the two charities.

In a statement, Buffett said, “Over the years, I’ve seen how the business world and innovative nonprofit organizations can come together to create real change, and I’ve always believed in supporting institutions that are making a tangible impact. This event brings me together with the people I admire once again in a completely new way, to support a truly important cause. I’m deeply gratified to be able to work with Stephen and Ayesha to launch this new project supporting the community.”

Buffett’s charity lunch event began in 2000, originating from a suggestion by his late wife, Susan Buffett. Its goal was to raise funds for the Glide Foundation in San Francisco, to help people experiencing homelessness and low-income groups. In the early years, the charity lunches were typically held at Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan, New York. Chinese winners have included Yongping Duan, Danyang Zhao, Ye Zhu, and Yuchen Sun, among others.

Buffett last hosted the charity lunch in 2022. The highest winning bid for that charity lunch reached $19 million, setting a record high, and total fundraising surpassed $50 million.

On December 31, 2025, local time, Buffett officially retired and stepped down as chief executive officer (CEO) of Berkshire Hathaway. Greg Abel officially took over as the company’s CEO; he had previously served for a long time as Buffett’s deputy. Filings submitted by Berkshire Hathaway to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that Buffett’s total compensation in 2025 was $389,488.

In the interview above, Buffett said that he is still involved in Berkshire Hathaway’s investment decisions, but “will not make any decisions that Greg Abel thinks are wrong.” When asked about whether he has new investments, Buffett said there was recently a “small buy,” but did not provide details.

Buffett also discussed Apple, saying selling Apple stock was too early: “I sold too early. But I bought earlier.” He revealed that Berkshire’s cumulative pre-tax profits from Apple have already exceeded $100 billion, and he spoke highly of Apple CEO Tim Cook, saying that on the foundation left by Jobs, Cook has run the company even more successfully.

It is understood that Berkshire began building its position in Apple in the first quarter of 2016. Initially led by two investment managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, it gradually became Berkshire’s first big strategic overweight holding. According to InsiderScore data, even after Berkshire reduced its stake amount to $61.96 billion at the end of last year, Apple was still its largest single-stock investment.