Warren Buffett

A lunch date with billionaire investor Warren Buffett was sold to a Chinese hedge-fund manager yesterday for more than $2.1 million during an online auction, more than tripling last year's record of $650,100.

Zhao Danyang, who manages the Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund in Shenzhen, won the auction by bidding $2,110,100, said Denise Lamott, a spokeswoman for Glide Foundation. Glide, a San Francisco charity, will receive all proceeds from the auction.

Warren Buffett, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, sees some opportunities for investing in the subprime mortgage business, he told Reuters in an interview. Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway had already made some subprime investments through its Clayton Homes manufactured housing unit.

"We have bought some subprime paper in the open market, as people have wanted to sell portfolios," he said of the investments Clayton Homes has made to date.

Warren Buffett says inflation in the U.S. is "exploding" and he urged the Federal Reserve not to signal in any way that controlling prices takes a back seat to encouraging economic growth. "I think inflation is really picking up...  Whether it's steel or oil ... We see it everyplace.  It's exploding," Buffett told Becky Quick in a live interview on CNBC's Power Lunch. 

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Warren Buffett is in Toronto, fielding questions from a crowd of 300 executives. One asks what makes people want to sell their companies to him. The Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chief executive officer replies that he tells a prospective seller to think of the company as a work of art.

Looks like the great American investor will have something to say about the future of the Great American Lager, with Warren Buffett reportedly involved in the hostile takeover battle between Anheuser-Busch (BUD) and European brewing giant InBev.

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Will a collection of hedge funds, carefully selected by experts, return more to investors over the next 10 years than the S&P 500? That question is now the subject of a bet between Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and Protégé Partners LLC, a New York City money management firm that runs funds of hedge funds - in other words, a firm whose existence rests on its ability to put its clients' money into the best hedge funds and keep it out of the underperformers.

More than 10,000 people had waited on the sidewalks overnight to be first in the doors of the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, and Tim Ferriss had to make a choice: He would go for the mics instead of the front row.

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Warren Buffett's sweet tooth was old news long before he signed on as a partner in Mars's deal to buy Wrigley for $23 billion. Buffett bought See's Candies more than three decades ago for Berkshire Hathaway, the company he heads, and Dairy Queen is another prized possession. Coca-Cola and Kraft, the maker of Oreos, rank among Berkshire's largest stock holdings. But judging by the jingle in his pocket, Buffett may be looking for a few more sweet deals.

Recent events in the financial markets have taken a heavy toll on the stock prices of many banks, with many such stocks trading at multiyear lows. However, not all financial institutions are created equal, as shareholders of Bear Stearns and  Countrywide Financial learned in recent months. With that in mind, we looked to  Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett for help in separating the wheat from the chaff.

Some view 77 as an age too old to be trying something new, but Warren Buffett, who says he will retire five years after his death, last week launched the hunt for his first European acquisition.

In several European cities, Mr Buffett laid out the qualities he looks for in a business and told owners to get in touch if they thought he was describing theirs.

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