PICTURED: Billionaire tech and entertainment moguls arrive at plush Sun Valley Lodge for exclusive, invite-only Idaho conference attended by CEOs of PayPal, McDonald’s Spotify and Uber
Millionaires, billionaires and tech moguls are swarming Sun Valley for the annual invite-only Allen & Company conference.
The gathering brings together the worlds of film, technology, design and sports each year in Idaho.
On Tuesday, early arrivals included PayPal CEO Daniel Schulman, McDonald’s chief Steve Easterbrook and billionaire media executive Shari Redstone.
Millionaires, billionaires and tech moguls are swarming Sun Valley for the annual invite-only Allen & Company conference. On Tuesday, early arrivals included PayPal CEO Daniel Schulman (left) and McDonald’s chief Steve Easterbrook (right)
Billionaire media executive Shari Redstone (pictured) also arrived to the conference on Tuesday
Daniel Ek, the CEO of the Spotify, arrived to the Allen and Company Conference Tuesday afternoon
Entire families are invited to the event – a move that encourages older business figures to stay for the duration of the event, rather than to bounce back to their homes after a couple of days. Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, is pictured with sons Hugo and Hayes
NBC’s Tom Brokaw was spotted carrying a snack in hand as he prepared for day one of the conference
The full list of topics has not yet been announced for this year’s event, which takes place every July just after the holiday. Fidelity Investments CEO, Abigail Johnson (pictured), is seen arriving to the event
The conference has never before been attended by President Donald Trump. It is unclear if that is because he has never been invited to attend or if he declined the organizers’ invites over the years.
Trump is currently gathering conservative groups at the White House this week for a ‘summit’ on social media that will prominently snub the tech titans who run big platforms on Facebook, Twitter and Google.
But leaders from Facebook, Twitter and Google may be more likely to turn up Thursday at the conference.
According to the conference guest list, Mark Zuckerberg and Disney’s Bob Iger are expected to attend but hadn’t arrived as of 4pm on Tuesday.
Dell Technologies chief Michael Dell, Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CBS Interactive CEO Jim Lanzone all expected to attend.
The full list of topics has not yet been announced for this year’s event, which takes place every July just after the holiday.
The real action for many onlookers though will happen in corridors, restaurants and golf courses rather than conference rooms.
It’s there that these movers and shakers will discuss, establish and perhaps even unofficially close on deals that could have huge effects on the wider world.
Former Disney head, Michael Eisner, and David M. Zaslav, the CEO of Discovery Communications both made their day one appearances at the conference
Eric Eisner (pictured), the founder and CEO of Double E Pictures arrived around the same time as his father, Disney magnate Michael Eisner
Ron Meyer, Vice Chairman of NBCUniversal, was spotted holding a binder on day one of the conference
The real action for many onlookers though will happen in corridors, restaurants and golf courses rather than conference rooms. Bill Koenigsberg, president, CEO & founder of Horizon Media and Devin Wenig, CEO of eBay, both arriving at the event
These movers and shakers will discuss, establish and perhaps even unofficially close on deals that could have huge effects on the wider world. Jon Oringer (pictured), the CEO of Shutterstock, Allen and Company conference
Previous deals that have their roots at Sun Valley include the 1995 purchase of Capital Cities/ABC by Disney, Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2009, the purchase of AOL by Verizon in 2015, and Jeff Bezos’ purchase of The Washington Post in 2013.
Many guests arrived by private jet at nearby Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey before being chauffeured through 15 miles of lush rolling hills to the lodge, where they will remain until Sunday.
Entire families are invited to the event – a move that encourages older business figures to stay for the duration of the event, rather than to bounce back to their homes after just a couple of days.
And while a fresh new crop of young entrepreneurs and tech wunderkinds make their way to Sun Valley each year, it is those older attendees who are valued the most, as they are the more experienced and, most crucially, connected of the group.
Nannies are on hand to take care of the kids, of course, and entertainment for all takes the form of whitewater rafting, biking and hiking – as well as the less dangerous (though perhaps no less stressful) hobby of jostling egos over drinks and food.
The conference began in 1982, and in its early days founder Herbert Allen – who co-founded Allen & Company with brother Charles – had to beg invitees to come.
Now the festival is a roaring success – and great promotion for the company.
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