NEW YORK - IT takes millions to have lunch with someone who control billions.

A bidder agreed to pay US$2.11 million (S$2.88 million) to have lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett, more than triple last year's record for the annual charity auction.

The winner, Mr Zhao Danyang, a general manager at Pure Heart China Growth Investment Fund, won the right to dine with the 76-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, a spokesman at the Glide Foundation said.

The five-day online auction concluded on Friday night on eBay's website. After starting at US$25,000, a battle broke out between two bidders in the final stretch of the auction with bid prices jumping seven-fold in two hours.

Last year's winners, including Mr Mohnish Pabrai, an Irvine, California-based investor who models his investment style on Mr Buffett's, dined with Mr Buffett this week in New York at steakhouse Smith & Wollensky.

Mr Pabrai, who bid for 5 years before being the top bidder, and Mr Guy Spier, a friend who runs the Aquamarine hedge fund, paid a then record US$650,100 to dine with Mr Buffett.

Mr Zhao was not immediately reachable for comment.

An eBay spokesman said the bid was among the highest priced items ever up for auction on the service and is the most expensive charity bid in its history, topping the US$2.1 million price paid for a letter to radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Mr Buffett has pledged most of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four family charities. Forbes magazine earlier this year estimated his net worth at US$62 billion.

Mr Buffett began donating the lunches in 2000, after his wife Susan introduced him to Glide, its affiliated church, and the Reverend Cecil Williams, who runs both.

The auctions were conducted live for three years, and have raised over US$4 million for Glide since moving to the Web in 2003. Glide's annual budget is about US$12 million. -- REUTERS