SUN VALLEY, Idaho — The moguls have arrived.
On Tuesday, dozens of titans of the business, media and tech worlds came out to play at the Sun Valley Lodge in Idaho for the start of Allen & Co.’s annual meeting of movers and shakers.
The conference is invitation-only and will consist of three days worth of seminars and meetings. They are closed to the public. So today was all about meeting and greeting each other at the posh retreat in Idaho’s picturesque Sawtooth Mountains.
Arrivals began at the Sun Valley Lodge around 11 a.m. local time, with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Comcast chief Brian Roberts, Imagine’s Brian Grazer, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, NBCUniversal chief Jeff Shell, Paramount Global chairman Shari Redstone and investor Jeffrey Katzenberg among the first to check in, receive their agenda briefing books and strap on a mask before receiving a COVID test.
The black sedans or silver vans with the horn will be available between 12 and 2 p.m. “Sun Valley” logo plastered on the side shuttled in Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Reed Hastings, former Disney chief Bob Iger, current Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, Google’s Philipp Schindler and name-brand investors Warren Buffett and Henry Kravis (who was in the driver’s seat for his entrance).
It was unusual to see so many big-name guests on the Sun Valley grounds before 3 p.m. The traditional peak time for arrivals is traditionally in the afternoon, which meant several reporters and camera operators hadn’t made it on to the scene to see the impressive lineup of early comers. The later wave included Michael Bloomberg, Sheryl Sandberg (in one of her first big outings since leaving Facebook), Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, investor Wendi Murdoch, CNBC anchor and New York Times writer Andrew Ross Sorkin, author Bari Weiss, Snap’s Michael Lynton and Liberty Media’s Greg Maffei.
Throughout the day, attendees — many of whom came with spouses, kids and dogs in tow — took very different approaches when it came to seeing and being seen.
Zaslav stopped by the Duck Pond (aka media holding pen) at the lodge as he was about to leave for dinner. The Warner Bros. chief was there to listen. Only the Discovery chief stopped by to offer a few off-the-record quotes.
Sandberg and Chapek were two of the people who managed to get out of reach of reporters and cameras quickly. After check-in, Sarandos and Hastings hid in a van just outside the entrance to avoid the media.
Sun Valley guests were not afraid to rub elbows with one another. Iger and Grazer enjoyed lunch at the Konditorei cafe, where they were joined by their spouses. They spent a lot time together and Grazer took time to have a chat with John Miller, the investor. After seeing each other in front of the lodge, Zaslav and Ken Langone, co-founder of Home Depot, chatted for awhile.
Sun Valley guests are expected to wake up Wednesday morning in order to attend the morning sessions. These sessions typically focus on macroeconomic and global political issues.