Warren Buffett lunch sells for record $650,100

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - A bidder agreed to pay $650,100 to have lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett, surpassing last year's record for the annual charity auction.

Mohnish Pabrai, an Irvine, California-based investor who models his investment style on Buffett's, won the right to dine with the 76-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (BRKb.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). The five-day online auction concluded on Friday night on eBay Inc.'s (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Web site.

It was Pabrai's fifth year of bidding but the first time he won. The top bid surged nearly $250,000 in the final hour.

"He has had a major influence on the way I've invested, and also on the way I give back," Pabrai, 43, said in an interview. "To the extent societal rules or the wiring of your brains make it easy to acquire a lot of assets, then to the extent you can, you should try to improve the world."

A year ago, Buffett pledged most of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four family charities. Forbes magazine in March estimated his net worth at $52 billion.

Pabrai invests more than $600 million at Pabrai Investment Funds, including $50 million in Berkshire stock. He said Guy Spier, a friend who runs the Aquamarine LLC hedge fund, funded about one-third of his winning bid.

The lunch for up to seven people will be held at a Manhattan steakhouse run by Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group Inc. SWRG.O. Pabrai plans to take his wife and two children, and Spier and his wife.