The mountain resort of Sun Valley, Idaho, is a relatively remote destination for most of the year, with a population of less than 2,000 and no shortage of skiing and hiking routes. But in July, the town is briefly transformed into a global hub of dealmaking as the ultra-wealthy descend upon its nearby airport in a flurry of private jets to attend a conference known as the “summer camp for billionaires.”
Not much is publicly known about the inner workings of the annual Sun Valley conference, organized by the investment firm Allen & Co. Media access is restricted, photo-ops are limited, and the contents of its itinerary of meetings and lectures are kept private. But the deals that have materialized from the annual event, which include Jeff Bezos’ acquisition of The Washington Post and Disney’s acquisition of ABC/Capital Cities, indicate it is where much of the global elite do some of their most key networking.
This year’s conference will take place between July 9 and July 13, as reported by the Idaho Mountain Express, which noted that the local Friedman Memorial Airport is ready for its “annual fly-in event.” A roster of more than 60 media moguls, tech CEOs and industry power players are preparing to touch down later this month, according to guest lists reported by both Variety and Bloomberg.
Perhaps more notable than this year’s attendees are the omissions for Sun Valley’s 2024 guest list. Warren Buffett, a regular Sun Valley-goer whose wife Astrid was last year overheard complaining about the conference’s coffee prices, was conspicuously excluded. Elon Musk, too, was absent from the guest list despite having attended the event in 2022 to deliver a session where he was interviewed by Sam Altman.
Altman, however, has been invited to the upcoming summit, indicating that his company’s development of A.I. is undoubtedly set to be a hot topic. He will be joined by a group of Big Tech leaders actively participating in the A.I. race, including Meta (META)’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple (AAPL)’s Tim Cook and Google (GOOGL)’s Sundar Pichai.
Another invitee is Paramount Global chairwoman Shari Redstone, who is fresh off the heels of a canceled merger with Skydance Media. Redstone, who is still pursuing a sale of Paramount’s parent company National Amusement, will find no shortage of interested media executives milling around Sun Valley. Attendees will also likely be eyeing Disney’s Bob Iger for succession clues as he heads to the conference alongside Alan Bergman, Dana Walden, Josh D'Amaro and Hugh Johnston, all of whom have been suggested as potential replacements for Iger when he retires in 2026.
If Sun Valley is starting to sound like a scene from Succession, that’s because it is one—the fictional Roy family attended a parodied version of the conference during the television show’s second season. As one might expect, Rupert Murdoch, the inspiration for Succession character Logan Roy, is on this year’s guest list alongside his sons Lachlan and James and ex-wife Wendi.
