Sun Valley, the field of techno billionaires: who this year went to Idaho

Starting Tuesday, leading figures from the techno, media and finance industries meet in Sun Valley, Idaho, for a week of work and pleasure, with outdoor activities, organized by private investment bank Allen. & Co. nicknamed “summer camp for tycoons”.

The meeting is distinguished by the secret and exclusive meeting of technology companies, media and other energy agents, in which presentations, debates and social activities such as hiking, rafting and golf are mixed.

Among the attendees of this super edition, Bill Gates, Bob Iger, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Bob Chapek and other titans of finance, technology and media are expected to attend this year’s Sun Valley Conference.

In this relaxed atmosphere great deals are brewing. Whether it’s the first contact on a potential merger, discussions about pending transactions or meetings that lead to talk of new alliances and acquisitions in the future.

Without going any further, Jeff Bezos’ purchase of The Washington Post grew out of conversations in Sun Valley and Disney’s $ 19 billion acquisition of ABC was conceived in this bucolic setting.

During last year’s Sun Valley, Microsoft Corp. has agreed to buy Activision Blizzard Inc., broadcaster Tegna Inc. announced it would go private, and Broadcom Inc. said it would buy VMware Inc. in one of the largest chipmaker deals in history.

Expected agenda items include recession fears, interest rate hikes, the fall of cryptocurrenciess, the loss of Netflix subscribers, and among other commercial concerns.

Distinguished participants

Confirmed attendees include none other than Elon Musk, in what is expected to be the first public appearance since the planned $ 44 billion acquisition of social media giant Twitter.

The cross between Musk and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal is expected, adding further expectation to the meeting. And although he acknowledged in a tweet that the deal is “temporarily suspended pending details”, the meeting could serve to smooth out the edges.

Two guest executives will join Meta: CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, who recently announced they would be stepping down after 14 years at the company known as Facebook.

In turn, big brands like Nike and Neiman Marcus are acquiring tech companies as e-commerce takes off and proprietary data becomes critical.

This year is unlikely to be any different, although the tone may be different from last year. For example, as CEO of Discovery, David Zaslav has long been one of the media moguls attending the annual meeting and has been sought after by both his peers and media reporters.

Last year, Zaslav arrived in the city after filing the mega deal with telecom giant AT&T for its entertainment arm WarnerMedia.

This year, his visit follows the closing of the deal and the first steps to imprint his brand on Warner Bros. Discovery’s corporate structure, including the departure of several senior executives.