He’s still not in Buffett’s tax bracket

What do you do when Warren Buffett calls to offer you $100,000?

If you’re Dwayne Johnson, you might ask the billionaire to consider sweetening the deal.

Johnson, who works in a steel factory in Huntington, West Virginia, was sitting on his couch Saturday afternoon when Buffett called to tell him that, with 31 out of 32 correct predictions in his March Madness bracket, he’d be winning $100,000 of the billionaire’s money. (If Johnson had correctly called South Carolina’s victory over Marquette, he would’ve received a cool $1 million.)

“He was very generous and kind,” Johnson said. “But I did mention that, well, since I was so close to getting all 32 right, maybe he could offer a consolation prize? Maybe half-a-million dollars?”

Alas, Buffett laughed off the request.

Every year, Buffett offers $100,000 to the Berkshire Hathaway employee with the most-accurate bracket. If someone had correctly guessed all 32 winners, plus the 16 winners on Saturday and Sunday, Buffett would have awarded him or her $1 million a year for life. More than 96,000 employees entered the contest this year.

Johnson, 36, says the $105,000 in winnings — which includes $5,000 from his employer, Precision Castparts — will help him pay off credit-card debt, buy a new car, take his family to Disney World and perhaps buy his wife a new purse. He also plans to save six months’ worth of expenses in case he loses his job, something he says he has been worried about in recent months after widespread layoffs at the mill.

What was his winning strategy?

“I was laying on my couch, about to go to bed one night and I thought, ‘Let me fill out my bracket real quick,’” he said. He did a couple of Google searches and, within 30 minutes, submitted his picks by phone.