Aurelia Butler

(Reuters) – Someone has bid more than $13.1 million at an online auction to win a final, private lunch with billionaire businessman Warren Buffett to benefit a charity that helps the poor, homeless and people battling substance abuse.The high $13,141,314 bid as of 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) far surpassed the previous record $4.57 million that cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun paid in a similar 2019 auction. Bidding this year on eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) ends at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT Saturday).Proceeds benefit Glide, a nonprofit in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district that offers meals, shelter, HIV and hepatitis C tests, job training and children’s programs.Prior to this year, Buffett, 91, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) Inc, had helped Glide raise more than $34.1 million by auctioning 20 lunches.The auctions began in 2000. None were held in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic.Buffett has also pledged to give away nearly all of his fortune. He was worth $93.4 billion on Friday, ranking seventh worldwide, according to Forbes magazine.This year’s auction winner can take up to seven guests to dine with Buffett at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan.Buffett will talk about almost anything, though not where he may invest next.He became a supporter of Glide after his first wife Susan introduced him to the charity, where she had been volunteering. Susan Buffett died in 2004.Hedge fund managers David Einhorn and Ted Weschler are among the winners of prior auctions.Weschler became a Berkshire portfolio manager after paying a combined $5.25 million to win the 2010 and 2011 auctions.Berkshire owns dozens of companies including the BNSF railroad; Geico car insurance; energy, manufacturing and retail businesses, and stocks such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC).Buffett still owns nearly 16% of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate, despite having donated more than half of his shares since 2006, including $4 billion this week. More

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index fell on Friday to close out its worst week in more than two years, as the energy sector continued its recent losing streak and offset gains by technology and consumer discretionary stocks.The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended down 73.58 points, or 0.4%, at 18,930.48, its lowest closing level since March 2021.For the week, the TSX was down 6.6%, its biggest weekly decline since March 2020.U.S. stocks were also volatile this week as investors grappled with a likely recession on the heels of rate hikes by multiple global central banks, including a three-quarter-percentage-point move by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, seeking to tame rising inflation.”All this chatter about recession has had investors really concerned,” said Elvis Picardo, portfolio manager at Luft Financial, iA Private Wealth.”And on top of that we’ve seen a bit of a pullback in oil prices … Energy equities were riding so high I think there has been a massive bout of profit taking in them.”The energy group on the Toronto market fell 5.7%, its seventh straight day of declines, as oil prices tumbled to a four-week low. U.S. crude oil futures settled 6.8% lower as investors worried that a global economic slowdown could cut demand for energy.The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, was also a drag, losing 0.9% as gold and copper prices fell.In contrast, the technology sector added 2.2%, with Lightspeed Commerce leading gains with a surge of 7.1%.Consumer discretionary rose 1.7%, while industrials ended 1% higher.Separately, Canada’s antitrust regulator said the merger of Rogers (NYSE:ROG) Communications and Shaw Communications (NYSE:SJR) should not go ahead, arguing the deal poses threats to competition in Canada.Shares of both companies ended higher. More

The pickup, currently priced at about $80,000 to $110,000, has more than 77,500 existing bookings which will not be impacted by the price hike as it will come into effect for vehicles reserved on or after Saturday, GM said. The company has been able to offset $5 billion in higher supply chain costs by raising prices and cutting expenses, GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson told investors at a conference sponsored by Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) on Wednesday. Last month, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) raised its Model 3 and Model Y prices, marking the automaker’s fifth price increase in just a few months.EV maker Rivian Automotive Inc has also raised prices on its pickup trucks by 20%, however, the company rolled back the hikes on vehicles booked before March 1 after facing backlash from customers. More