On the value of a well chosen bit to the seller in an auction

A central fact in the theory of optimal auction design is that the seller of a single object in an auction with n bidders, having independent, random valuations, typically cannot extract the full maximum value of the object from the buyers. We show that if the seller has access to a single bit of information, even if noisy, then the seller can extract full value. The work is meant to explore the use of information measures in mechanism design problems