OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett is auctioning off an all-you-can-eat tour of the See's Candy factory in California to benefit an education nonprofit there.
Bidding had already reached $35,000 by Monday afternoon, but it remains to be seen whether the final price of this auction will rival the annual auction of lunch with Buffett which routinely tops $1 million.
The online auction that runs through Aug. 13 will benefit Communities In Schools of Los Angeles. It is being offered on the charitybuzz.com website.
Buffett says he'll teach the auction winner the proper way to eat a bonbon during the half-day tour. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate has owned See's Candy since 1972, and he spends hours munching on See's treats while answering questions at Berkshire's annual meetings.
Buffett did not immediately respond to questions about this new auction Monday.
For more than a decade, the only time Buffett auctioned off a chance to meet with him was the lunch auction that helps fund the Glide Foundation's efforts to help the poor and homeless in San Francisco.
The winner of this year's lunch auction paid $1,000,100. That's a bargain compared to the previous five years when the winning bids all topped $2 million, including the record 2012 bid of $3,456,789.
This new See's Candy auction could affect bidding on the lunch auction. But Glide Foundation founder Rev. Cecil Williams said he's not worried about interest in the lunch auction declining.
