SUN VALLEY, Idaho — Rupert Murdoch will attend Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley conference this week, VarietyIt has been confirmed.
The annual event is colloquially called “summer camp for billionaires”As usual, the Sun Valley Lodge in Idaho’s resort town of Sun Valley Lodge will host the July 5th event. Murdoch, 91, arrived on site during the July 4th holiday on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter, two days after the Fox Corp. and News Corp. baron attended granddaughter Charlotte Freud’s wedding to rapper Lukey Storey in the U.K.
Murdoch’s decision to come to the Sun Valley retreat — an event he has attend numerous times over the years — is an interesting surprise, as his name was not among those on the list of invite-only Sun Valley guests obtained by Variety last month.
However, Murdoch’s sons James Murdoch, CEO of Lupa Systems, and Lachlan Murdoch, the current CEO of Fox Corp., were both already expected to attend. The brothers appear to be on two different sides of politics these days. James has left Fox’s family business and is now moving towards the center. Lachlan, however, is now firmly in the top of Fox Corp. and stands behind Fox News despite ever-increasing criticisms of his involvement with President Donald Trump.
Rupert Murdoch’s choice to attend Sun Valley also comes amid a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and Fox Corp led by Dominion Voting Systems, and on the heels of the announcement of Murdoch’s divorce from Jerry Hall. Murdoch and the 65-year-old model were married in 2016, marking Murdoch’s fourth marriage. Murdoch and Hall attended Sun Valley together during 2018.
Murdoch was responsible for the 2019 sale of 21st Century Fox to Walt Disney Co., a deal that was valued at $71.3 million. He is currently chairman of Fox Corp. (a publicly traded entity which owns Fox Broadcasting Company and Fox Television Stations, Fox News as well as Fox Business, Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox News, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, Fox Business, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations Murdoch is still executive chairman of News Corp., a publishing company that includes The Wall Street Journal, Central Recorder, and HarperCollins.
Matt Donnelly contributed to the story.