Idaho's Sun Valley Resort is set to host Allen & Company's annual Billionaires' Summer Camp this week, drawing the usual crowd of media, tech and business heavyweights.
Though the invitation-only events, held on the lodge's sprawling grounds, are kept a closely guarded secret from the public, the annual conference has traditionally been a hotbed of deal-making between bigwigs like Mehta's Mark Zuckerberg and Disney's Bob Iger.
This year's headline guests will include Shari Redstone, who is likely to attract suitors for Paramount Global after agreeing to sell her family's National Amusements Corp., the Hollywood studio's controlling shareholder, to David Ellison's Skydance Media for $2.4 billion.
The deal, which would see Redstone step down after years of speculation, includes a 45-day “go-shop” period during which other bidders can submit competing bids — a period that conveniently begins just as Redstone is set to rub shoulders with some of Idaho's biggest media and entertainment figures.
Barry Diller, the IAC billionaire who was reportedly considering a bid for Paramount until last week, may be appearing at Sun Valley, according to a guest list obtained by Variety.
Meanwhile, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which has been propelled to the forefront of the artificial intelligence race with the success of ChatGPT, was also in attendance and is looking to secure further licensing deals to power its chatbots.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver revealed last year that the league was working with Apple Inc to broadcast games on its “Vision Pro” virtual reality headsets, but that will come under intense scrutiny as it works to finalize a media rights package estimated to be worth $76 billion with broadcast partners.
David Zaslav, CEO of TNT's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is also scheduled to attend the meeting, which could make things tricky. TNT, the NBA's longtime television partner, is reportedly on the verge of losing its broadcast rights as the NBA works out deals with ESPN, Amazon, NBC and others.
Iger is set to return after making waves at a conference last year when he announced plans to stay at the helm of Disney until 2026. In addition to the 73-year-old Iger, there are several other candidates to succeed him, including Dana Walden, Josh D'Amaro, Alan Bergman and Hugh Johnston.
Other media dignitaries invited include New York Post and News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James, Comcast's Bob Roberts and Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters.
The 2024 presidential election will heavily influence business debate, with much of the focus likely to be on the position of President Biden, who is facing calls to drop out of the race after his disastrous debate performance with former President Donald Trump last month.
Several prominent Democrats have been invited, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Maryland Governor Wes Moore.
Tech industry figures are expected to join Altman, Zuckerberg and others in Idaho, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Salesforce's Marc Benioff.
Also on the list is former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who is said to be one of the few investors interested in buying the struggling TikTok, as well as Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi and Palantir's Alex Karp.
Several prominent news anchors are scheduled to participate in the meet-and-greet, including CNN's Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett, CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin and Becky Quick, and CBS News' Gayle King.
Meanwhile, as The Washington Post exclusively reported, legendary investor Warren Buffett, 93, a Sun Valley regular whose wife Astrid reportedly complained last year about having to pay $4 for a cup of coffee, was not attending the conference.
Other Berkshire Hathaway executives are also expected to attend, including Buffett's successor, Greg Abel, and longtime colleagues Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
The Oracle of Omaha relied on a golf cart to get around the resort grounds last year, with Astrid Buffett saying at the time that the Berkshire Hathaway CEO suffered from poor balance.
