Charity Auction Bids for Coffee With Tim Cook Pass $500,000

MacRumors · Apr 26, 2013

With a flurry of activity today, bidding on the charity auction for a coffee meeting with Tim Cook at Apple's headquarters has passed $500,000, nearly doubling the previous record for a CharityBuzz "experience" auction set last year when a bidder paid $255,000 to spend a day with Bill Clinton.

The bid list seems to be a combination of serious bidders and those likely simply seeking visibility for their names or brands and relying on the fact that there are 18 days left to bid to hope that they won't actually win the auction. CharityBuzz notes in its FAQ that all bids are legally binding and can not be retracted.

Can I retract a bid?

No, and we're pretty strict about this. Here's the legalese: All bids placed on the Charitybuzz website are legally binding. If you are the successful bidder, you will enter into a legal contract to purchase the item and will be considered the buyer of the lot. Please consider your bids carefully before placing them.

The auction for coffee with Cook, which is part of a group of roughly 100 celebrity auctions supporting the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights, will see the winner and a guest travel at their own expense to Apple headquarters to meet with Cook for 30-60 minutes over coffee on a mutually agreed upon date.

Article Link: Charity Auction Bids for Coffee With Tim Cook Pass $500,000

Chuck-Norris · Apr 26, 2013

hopefully Tims buying coffee lolz

maflynn · Apr 26, 2013

That's crazy, there's no way meeting with a CEO (any ceo) is worth that much money.

TimeSquareDesi · Apr 26, 2013

That's some serious cheddar. You can almost purchase a Retina MBP with that sorta cash

Macman45 · Apr 26, 2013

maflynn said:
That's crazy, there's no way meeting with a CEO (any ceo) is worth that much money.

Nope, and whoever wins the bid is not going to get hours...more like a quick handshake, a coffee, and a bag of freebies.....and a polite good day. Can't see the attraction myself

tardman91 · Apr 26, 2013

All eBay bids are legally binding too (except for real estate and motors). We see how well that works all the time.

TimeSquareDesi · Apr 26, 2013

maflynn said:
That's crazy, there's no way meeting with a CEO (any ceo) is worth that much money.

People pay this and more to meet for lunch with other folks - Buffet comes to mind. The insight can be invaluable although I'm not too sure what insight from Cook is worth... Too early on in his tenure, IMO, to conclude this...

Avatarshark · Apr 26, 2013

Lol at this point it's probably a private millionaire or company using this meeting as a pitch meeting to get a job or product.

Jsameds · Apr 26, 2013

Overpriced. There are cheaper and better-specced people to have a cup of coffee with on the market.

phillipduran · Apr 26, 2013

WOW!

This will likely hit the Guinness book of world records for most expensive coffee date.

I'm sure this is going to turn into a media circus now.

Rudy69 · Apr 26, 2013

The highest bidder is Steve Woz

Mr. Retrofire · Apr 26, 2013

maflynn said:
That's crazy, there's no way meeting with a CEO (any ceo) is worth that much money.

That's not the point.

phillipduran · Apr 26, 2013

Macman45 said:
Nope, and whoever wins the bid is not going to get hours...more like a quick handshake, a coffee, and a bag of freebies.....and a polite good day. Can't see the attraction myself

I think the auction says 30-60 minutes.

sza · Apr 26, 2013

current value is 10 times greater than the estimated value...bubble is ready to pop.

whooleytoo · Apr 26, 2013

Can I retract a bid?

No, and we're pretty strict about this. Here's the legalese: All bids placed on the Charitybuzz website are legally binding. If you are the successful bidder, you will enter into a legal contract to purchase the item and will be considered the buyer of the lot. Please consider your bids carefully before placing them.

Yikes. If I had an account with charitybuzz.com, I think I'd be v-e-r-y careful about letting the kids use my laptop!

johnnnw · Apr 26, 2013

Okay I will start by saying I'm not hating at all.

But I'm honestly curious how this could be worth half a million to ANYBODY.

Tim Cook is a normal person who was assigned to be CEO. What insight could be possibly give in a half hour that a successful person (you need to be to afford this) doesn't already know?

Honestly curious.

Maybe if it was Jobs I could see someone doing this just to meet a man who built a company like Apple, but Cook?

I don't see how it's worth it at all.

The estimated value was $50,000, that seems more reasonable.

BornAgainApple · Apr 26, 2013

Steve would never have allowed this.

/on topic The winning bidder can only hope that the result of this 'coffee break' is a contract with Apple. I honestly don't see what insight TC can offer to offset the amount of the bid. Must be nice to have that kind of disposable income. At least it's going to a good cause.

mono1980 · Apr 26, 2013

Obviously some people have too much money.

Insilin1i · Apr 26, 2013

I think they key part of this is that its for charity... its not just because he's the CEO of Apple.

For people who normally contribute large sums of money why not get to chat with the CEO of Apple while you're at it?

phillipduran · Apr 26, 2013

johnnnw said:
Okay I will start by saying I'm not hating at all.

But I'm honestly curious how this could be worth half a million to ANYBODY.

Tim Cook is a normal person who was assigned to be CEO. What insight could be possibly give in a half hour that a successful person (you need to be to afford this) doesn't already know?

Honestly curious.

Maybe if it was Jobs I could see someone doing this just to meet a man who built a company like Apple, but Cook?

I don't see how it's worth it at all.

The estimated value was $50,000, that seems more reasonable.

Yes, he's a normal person, his pants go on the same way yours does. What is valuable is his experience. How many people have been CEO of a company as successful as Apple? There is value in that experience.

Tankmaze · Apr 26, 2013

the person who can afford this must have other motive,
he/she wants to meet the CEO to discuss new business opportunity

nepalisherpa · Apr 26, 2013

Funny how it's a win-win situation for Apple. They will donate to the charity and they won't use their money.

everything-i · Apr 26, 2013

maflynn said:
That's crazy, there's no way meeting with a CEO (any ceo) is worth that much money.

The point is to give money to charity, the fact that you get to meet CEO of Apple is just a token benefit.

makotoisle · Apr 26, 2013

These people would probably be donating the money to charity anyway for the tax write-off. The coffee meeting is just icing on the cake.

Ryth · Apr 26, 2013

TimeSquareDesi said:
People pay this and more to meet for lunch with other folks - Buffet comes to mind. The insight can be invaluable although I'm not too sure what insight from Cook is worth... Too early on in his tenure, IMO, to conclude this...

1985-1997: 12 years in IBM's personal computer business as the director of North American Fulfillment.
1998 - 2007: Apple Senior Vice President for Worldwide Operations
2007 - current: Apple COO

Yah...he literally has no insight...27 years in the industry in key positions, of the two biggest computer companies...you're TOTALLY right.

/s

Charity Auction Bids for Coffee With Tim Cook Pass $500,000

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