The most exclusive party of the summer just got underway in the leafy mountains of central Idaho.
Titans of industry, from media to tech to finance, are descending on Sun Valley this week for the annual "summer camp for billionaires," the corporate executive retreat that has become one of the year's biggest and most influential gatherings of the private-jet class.
Officially the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, named for the boutique investment bank that started it in the 1980s, this year's meeting of the elites runs from July 9 to 13.
Not much is known about the inner workings of the invite-only gathering, where members of the media are kept within arm's length. The itinerary for the week is kept private, sparking gossip and intrigue and even a parody on the HBO show Succession, right down to the conference's casual dress code and required name tags (yes, even for Mark Zuckerberg).
But behind closed doors, Sun Valley has been the spot where numerous big media and tech deals have originated, including Jeff Bezos' acquisition of the Washington Post and Google's purchase of YouTube.
Who's In
While the invitees are kept strictly under wraps, Variety and Bloomberg report that this year's gathering will include more than 60 moguls, from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to Disney boss Bob Iger. Here's that list, broken down by industry, with the caveat that attendance isn't guaranteed.
Tech:
- Sam Altman - CEO of OpenAI
- Marc Benioff - CEO of Salesforce
- Jeff Bezos - executive chairman of Amazon
- Brian Chesky - CEO of AirBnb
- Tim Cook - CEO of Apple
- Bill Gates - founder of Microsoft
- Andy Jassy - CEO of Amazon
- Alex Karp - CEO of Palantir
- Dara Khosrowshahi - CEO of Uber
- Sundar Pichai - CEO of Google
- Peter Thiel - co-founder of PayPal, Palantir and Founders Fund
- Mark Zuckerberg - CEO of Meta
Entertainment:
- Alan Bergman - co-chairman of Disney Entertainment
- Jason Blum - CEO of Blumhouse Productions
- Mike Cavanagh - president of Comcast
- Josh D'Amaro - chairman of Disney Experiences
- Barry Diller - chairman of InterActiveCorp
- Daniel Ek - CEO of Spotify
- Mike Fries - CEO of Liberty Global
- Brian Grazer - film and television producer
- Bob Iger - CEO of The Walt Disney Company
- Hugh Johnston - senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Walt Disney Company
- Bobby Kotick - former CEO of Activision Blizzard
- Ynon Kreiz - CEO of Mattel
- Neal Mohan - CEO of YouTube
- James Murdoch - former CEO of 21st Century Fox
- Lachlan Murdoch - chairman of News Corp
- Rupert Murdoch - executive chairman of News Corp
- Greg Peters - co-CEO of Netflix
- Michael Rapino - CEO of Live Nation Entertainment
- Shari Redstone - chairwoman of Paramount Global
- Charles Rivkin - CEO of the Motion Picture Association
- Brian Roberts - CEO of Comcast
- Ted Sarandos - co-CEO of Netflix
- Dana Walden - co-chairman of Disney Entertainment
- Casey Wasserman - chairman of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games
- Anthony Wood - CEO of Roku
- Kenichiro Yoshida - CEO of Sony
- David Zaslav - CEO of Warner Bros. Discover
Politics:
- Mark Gordon - governor of Wyoming
- Brad Little - governor of Idaho
- Wes Moore - governor of Maryland
- Chuck Schumer - Senate majority leader
- Josh Shapiro - governor of Pennsylvania
- Kyrsten Sinema - senator from Arizona
- Gretchen Whitmer - governor of Michigan
- Amos Yadlin - former Israel Defense Forces military attaché to Washington
Media:
- Michael Bloomberg - majority owner of Bloomberg LP
- Erin Burnett - anchor of CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront
- Anderson Cooper - anchor of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360
- Elle Duncan - anchor of ESPN's SportsCenter
- Thomas Friedman - columnist for The New York Times
- Gayle King - co-host of CBS Mornings
- Becky Quick - co-anchor of CNBC's Squawk Box
- Andrew Ross Sorkin - columnist for The New York Times and co-anchor of CNBC's Squawk Box
- Oprah Winfrey - host of the Oprah Winfrey Show
Higher Education:
- Paul Alivisatos - president of the University of Chicago
- Willow Bay - dean of USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
- Jack DeGioia - president of Georgetown University
- Ben Sasse - president of the University of Florida
Who's Out
Warren Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO who has been a regular conference attendee for years, is reportedly not on the list this year. The 93-year-old billionaire is said to be suffering from balance issues (while his wife reportedly complained about the coffee prices last year).
Elon Musk, another regular attendee, is also missing from the list for the second year in a row, ever since his contentious purchase of Twitter (now X).
In 2022, when Musk last ventured to Sun Valley, he had just announced he was terminating his $44 billion deal to buy the social network and was interviewed by Sam Altman, where he reportedly opined on Mars travel and declining birth rates.
About the writer
Monica is a Newsweek reporter based in Boston. Her focus is reporting on breaking news. Monica joined Newsweek in 2024. ... Read more
