Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who’s pledged to donate his fortune to worthy causes, helped raise $4,500 for charity with the sale of an oversized Dairy Queen ice-cream spoon bearing his signature.

The five-pound spoon drew 61 bids since July 21 in an Internet auction that ended, according to EBay Inc.’s website. Proceeds will go to the Children’s Miracle Network, an organization that raises funds for children’s hospitals.
The winning bidder wasn’t identified. Dairy Queen is a unit of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the holding company Buffett built through acquisitions and stock picks.
Buffett, the world’s third-richest person, has promised to give 99 percent of his fortune to charity. He and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates are working to persuade fellow billionaires to give at least half their wealth to philanthropy.
Buffett, 79, wrote in a letter announcing the campaign last month that he had benefited from an economy where “fate’s distribution of long straws is wildly capricious.”
“My hat’s off to Warren Buffett for continuing to have a philanthropic bent on life,” said Coppy Holzman, co-founder and chief executive officer of charitybuzz.com, a website that runs auctions for nonprofit groups.
(Source: Bloomberg)