Sun Valley fashion police
Further to our earlier post on the hottest looks in executive casual at Sun Valley, here are a few more outfits hot off the runway.
Who gets your vote for America’s next top model?
Mouse over the photos to identify your favorite executive and comment below.
(Photos: REUTERS/Rick Wilking)
The price of privacy at Sun Valley
Grudging acceptance is one way to describe Allen & Co.’s reception to the gaggle of reporters and photographers who show up at its annual mogul fest year after year like bad pennies.
There are ground rules and they change periodically. They mostly leave us alone and we mostly stay out of attendees’ ways, especially the press-shy contingent.
But this year, Allen & Co banned reporters from setting up in the beloved cafe at the Inn, where most of the morning presentations take place. We’ve relocated to the lobby, where five lucky reporters sit in chairs to file stories and photos. (It is next to a faux fireplace, so we’re not complaining. They also brought coffee for the photographers this morning.)
But thanks to thousands of dollars’ worth of shrubs that they placed between us and the moguls, it’s now harder to spot the table-hopping action. So, for now, no cafeteria report until I figure out a more efficient way to scope out the crowd. (I don’t know the exact total, but judging by the price tags on the shrubs, I’d say they plunked down somewhere between $4,300 and $6,110 )
What has stayed the same? We’re still escorted to the bathroom by private security.
(Photo: Reuters)
Sun Valley – a sked of who’s where, when…
Thanks to New York Times Andrew Ross Sorkin’s DealBook blog here’s a sked of who’s going to be speaking at this year’s annual media mogul and new media upstart get-together organized by Allen & Company in Idaho’s Sun Valley.
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, IAC/InterActive Corp’s CEO Barry Diller, and Google co-founder Larry Page will be among those speaking today.
Other key names speaking tomorrow include Sir Howard Stringer, chairman of Sony Corp. , Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive of Dreamworks Animation.
As usual there are other super big names who aren’t directly connected to media, including former Microsoft honcho Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett (NYT points out he is a big shareholder and board member of the Washington Post Company) and Coca Cola CEO Muhtar Kent. The real outsider this year and special guest is His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan (pictured above) - as we pointed out in our earlier blog.
(Photo: Reuters)
Why is Larry Page here? Is he cutting deals — Should not Eric Schmidt be the one?
And is it Reuters’ style to say His Majesty? Or is this a sarcastic/outdated reference?
Look who’s advertising in Sun Valley
The Screen Actors Guild ran an ad in the local paper on Wednesday seeking better labor terms. We’re not talking about the L.A. Times here, but rather the Idaho Mountain Express, straight out of Sun Valley, Idaho, where Hollywood’s elite are bumping shoulders at the annual Allen & Co conference.
SAG was dealt a blow late Tuesday when another smaller Hollywood union ratified a new prime-time TV contract. SAG’s contract talks stalemated last week over some of the same issues that led to a 14-week screenwriters’ strike that paralyzed Hollywood and centered on disagreements over how union talent should be paid for work created for the Internet.
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists won final approval despite an unusual all-out campaign by SAG to vote down the AFTRA accord. A “no” vote would have given SAG more leverage to negotiate a more favorable settlement with studios.
So why the ad in Idaho? Here’s what Screen Actors Guild National President and National Negotiating Committee Chair Alan Rosenberg said in a release:
This media conference is the place where significant deals get made. We wanted to remind the entertainment media leaders in attendance that there is another important deal to be made. Actors are the creative heart of the entertainment business, and our Screen Actors Guild members want to partner with our industry to invest in and share the rewards of our mutual digital future. Let’s keep talking and let’s make a fair deal.
Dear everyone in Hollywood,
Leave Idaho alone. It is one of the last places in America that hasn’t been corrupted by you. Nobody cares bout the actors in Hollywood, only themselves. Maybe if they made quality movies people would care. Take a hike.
Murdoch in Sun Valley: No deals
Consummate dealmaker Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corp, strolled into the Sun Valley Inn for the first full day of Allen & Co’s annual mogul retreat.
Asked by CNBC reporter Julia Boorstin whether he was buying anything, he shot back, “Not today. Not this week.”
That might provide some small comfort for shareholders who have sent shares of News Corp sinking close to 30 percent since the beginning of the year on a variety of issues, including a sluggish economy and threats of an advertising recession. Shareholders also craw about the dreaded “Murdoch Discount” — investor concern the media tycoon will suddenly make another a big purchase.
Recent actions to privatize NDS Group, which nets News Corp an estimated $1.7 billion in cash, have only exacerbated those fears.
(Photo: Rick Wilking for Reuters)
Moguls roll into Sun Valley
Media moguls — well really, tycoons of all kinds — trickled into the Sun Valley Lodge on Tuesday for Allen & Co’s annual pow wow in Sun Valley. Or, in the case of Rupert Murdoch, he drove a white Toyota SR5.
Here are some mugshots:
No wonder the swans got scared.
(Photos: Reuters)
are the dueling cable news networks attending? Love to be a fly on the wall with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, MSNBC’s Greta Van Susstern or Dan Ambrams & Fox!
Sun Valley’s secret guest
Every year a secret guest graces Allen & Co’s Sun Valley conference with his/her presence. Last year, Tony Blair quietly rolled in and lunched with Viacom chief Sumner Redstone, among other activities.
If you can figure out which country this flag belongs to, you’ve got the answer:
Thanks to Reuters photographer Rick Wilking for this one. Sun Valley Lodge staffers unfurled the flag and quickly took it down — likely after being told it was secret. We’re hearing from one guest that this year’s surprise attendee will be His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan.
(Photo: Reuters / Rick Wilking)
Valley of the moguls
They call it the Duck Pond, but it’s actually teaming with (vicious) swans. It’s considered a big media and tech powwow, but a broad swath of global corporate titans of finance and politics round out the guest list.
It’s the 26th annual Allen & Co Sun Valley conference, where high-wattage huddles transpiring on the tranquil resort grounds among stunningly rich business people swathed in questionable leisure wear could end up in big deals months from now. The legend springs from the track record: AOL and Time Warner, Walt Disney and CapCities/ABC, Google and YouTube are all said to have gotten started here.
In between knitting (!), yoga, white-water rafting and golfing, and bridge (!) games execs like Google’s trio Eric Schmidt, Larry Page and Sergey Brin mix it up Disney’s Bob Iger, Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes and News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch.
Although the mood this year is decidedly somber as the deteriorating U.S. economy weighs heavily on the minds of moguls, deal chatter persists and will likely center on what AllthingsD’s Kara Swisher likens to the Godfather-like meeting of the five families — the drama over who’s going to link up, buy, merge, strikes with whom playing out between Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Time Warner and News Corp.
In particular, Yahoo’s Jerry Yang and Sue Decker are under the hotlights again after billionaire investor and career agitator Carl Icahn fired another salvo on Monday urging shareholders to join his campaign to wipe clean the board slate and pave a way towards a deal with Microsoft. Microsoft’s backing Icahn, it seems. The software maker is open to pursuing a deal to buy all or part of Yahoo — only if a new board is elected.
The only thing missing from the pitch: price.
Are they trying to tell they are more powerful than the G-8? Are knitting and yoga metaphors here?
