Meet the Chinese firm that paid $3.18m for Warren Buffet

China's rampaging share market has produced a new kind of winner - the boss of Dalian Zeus Entertainment Group, who used his stock quote as inspiration for a bid to dine with Warren Buffett, and won.

Dalian Zeus, a gaming company little known outside China, stole headlines at the weekend after dishing out US$2.35 million (S$3.18m)  for a private lunch date with the legendary investor.

Chief executive Zhu Ye described the chance to lunch with Buffett as a dream come true, according to a report by Chinese Securities Times.

Zhu, who graduated from the Beijing University of Technology in 1999, told the Chinese media outlet that he wanted to seek Buffett's opinions on value investing.

When asked how he decided on the winning bid of US$2,345,678, Zhu said he was inspired by the stock quote of his company, which is 002354 on the Shenzhen Composite. He added that the staggering bill for the luncheon - to be held at Manhattan's Smith & Wollensky steakhouse - would not be put on company expenses.

Zhu is not the first Chinese businessman to secure the winning bid in Buffett's annual charity lunch auction. In 2008 mainland investor Zhao Danyang paid $2.1 million for a meal with the so-called Sage of Omaha.

Last year's winner, Singapore's Andy Chua, paid almost US$2.2 million for his chance to dine with Buffett. The highest bid in the auction's 16-year history was US$3,456,789 - made in 2012 by a winner who chose to remain anonymous.

So, what is Dalian Zeus Entertainment Group?

Formerly named Dalian Kemian Wood Industry, the firm originally dealt with the manufacturing of flooring and wood products, but is now mainly engaged in web and mobile game development.

The Dalian-based company has seen its shares surge almost 70 per cent this year, bringing its market cap to 21.62 billion yuan (S$4.74 billion). But its stock has been in a trading halt since May 28 pending the release of an announcement, according to Reuters.

For the past 16 years Buffett has donated the proceeds of his annual lunch auctions - more than US$17 million in total - to Glide, a San Francisco charity that aids the city's poor and homeless.