eBay lunch with world's top investor

A BIDDER appears to have won lunch with the world's most successful investor after offering $351,100 (£198,000) in a week-long charity auction on eBay.

The top bidder was apparently 'hanka3153', according to the auction website. The bidder, who could not immediately be identified, outbid rivals including Mohnish Pabrai, a managing partner of Pabrai Investment Funds in California, and Singapore resident Jason Choo, who won the auction last year.

The legendary investor has donated lunches to benefit the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco charity that offers programmes for the poor, hungry and homeless, for the past five years.

As in previous years, the billionaire will host the winner and up to seven friends for lunch in either Omaha, Nebraska, where Buffett lives and works, or in New York.

Pabrai has bid for the lunches for three years and lost every time. He said he was a passionate disciple of Buffett for more than a decade and would bid again next year.

'I have learned a tremendous amount from him,' Pabrai told news agency Reuters after learning he lost the bid. 'I can never repay the tuition and the lunch is to thank him for whatever he has done.'

Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway, is known for his long-term approach to investing in companies he considers undervalued. The Rev Cecil Williams, who heads Glide, has called Buffett 'a very powerful person who undoubtedly feels very strongly about our programmes. He's always there, helping, reaching out'.

The lunches began after Buffett's wife Susan, who died last year, introduced him to Williams' Glide Memorial United Methodist Church. Until moving to eBay in 2003, the auctions were held in San Francisco.

With a recent net worth of $44bn (£25bn), Buffett trails only Bill Gates, the chairman of computer giant Microsoft, on Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people. Gates is a Berkshire director and bridge partner of Buffett's.

The secret of Buffett's success

Buffett, 74, reportedly began investing at 11 years old - losing money in his first deal and learning the importance of patience. He later went on to college and was taught by Ben Graham, a legendary investor who came to prominence in the 1920s and 1930s.

Buffett has hailed Graham's book, The Intelligent Investor, the 'greatest book on investing ever written'. The book focused on estimating 'intrinsic value' for companies - the true worth of a company based on its assets.

Buffett went on to set up Berkshire Hathaway in 1965. Consistent and powerful performance has since earned him the name Sage of Omaha. He is estimated to be have generated a £25bn fortune through buying stocks such as American Express, Gillette and Coca-Cola when they were cheap.