Warren Buffett is planning to give a lucky employee $1 million each year for the rest of their life

Bonuses and benefits for high performing employees are commonplace in many companies, but it’s unlikely the bonuses are to the tune of $US1 million ($1.3 million).

Entrepreneur reports billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett will once again offer the generous gift to any of his employees who can guess the “Sweet 16” teams for the upcoming National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournament.

Read more: The three words Warren Buffett wants you to write on your mirror

And the $1 million won’t just be a one-off payment — the employee will receive the sum every year for the rest of their life.

“If they can get to the Sweet 16, if there’s only one of them, whoever it is, he or she gets a million dollars a year for the rest of their life,” Buffett told CNBC.

Buffett also has a one-off prize of $US100,000 for whoever gets the closest guess.

“Last year we had two fellas that tied. One of them knew a lot about basketball and the other didn’t know anything about basketball but they each got $50,000 out of it,” Buffett told CNBC.

With more than 367,000 employees at Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries, Buffett said the company is expecting over 100,000 entries. Last year, when Buffett ran a similar competition, 85,000 entries were received.

The “Sweet 16” is the result of a bracket of 68 collegiate basketball teams, which face off over two rounds to get there. Picking the correct 16 involves 282 trillion possible combinations.

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