Warren Buffett's Firm Would Have Lost MILLIONS If France Won The World Cup

Warren Buffet was an unexpected beneficiary of France's loss to South Africa on Tuesday, which eliminated the beleaguered, scandal-ridden Les Blues from the World Cup.

Bloomberg reports that the Oracle of Omaha wrote an insurance policy to an unnamed individual that would have paid out in a very big way if France won the World Cup championship. In March, Buffett told CNBC that he was going to lose something in the neighborhood of "30 million bucks" if France won. (Bloomberg adds that bookmakers put France's odds of winning a championship at 12-1.)

Whether or not this is ultimately a form of high-finance gambling on Buffett's part, the $30 million payout dwarfs the individual insurance policies taken out on World Cup players, the Insurance Journal reports. A high-priced World Cup player, the publication notes, could have their bodies insured for upwards of $70 million. Lloyd's estimated the total market for World Cup insurance this year to be worth nearly $9 billion.