Media and tech titans prepare to gather for 'billionaire summer camp' at Sun Valley Lodge

Billionaires and titans of the tech and media world are preparing to gather again in Idaho for the annual Sun Valley Lodge conference. 

The annual invite-only conference, thrown by investment bank Allen & Company, brings together leaders of film, technology, design and sports each year.

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The event was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and this year’s conference is set to feature strict checks to ensure it does not become a superspreader event.

Attendees will be have to be vaccinated, and provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test, the Wall Street Journal reports. The five-day event will kick off on Tuesday.

The annual invite-only conference is thrown by investment bank Allen & Company

Many guests arrive by private jet at nearby Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey before being chauffeured through 15 miles of lush rolling hills to the lodge. Airfield is pictured filled with jets during the 2019 conference 

At the conference, movers and shakers discuss, establish and perhaps even unofficially close on deals that could have huge effects on the wider world. 

And this year could see big deals for the TV streaming world.

Bosses from the big streaming rivals are all due to attend, according to the Journal, including Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Discovery chief David Zaslav and Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos. 

Bezos, who is set to step down and chief at Amazon this week, is set to be joined by replacement Andy Jassy who takes over as CEO on Monday.

Comcast’s Brian Roberts and WarnerMedia Chief Executive Officer Jason Kilar are also on the guest list, the paper reports.

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is expected to attend this year’s event at Sun Valley Lodge. He is pictured at the event in 2014

Donald Graham, former publisher of The Washington Post, talks to Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, and Marne Levine, chief operating officer of Instagram at the conference in 2019

Previous deals that have their roots at Sun Valley include the 1995 purchase of Capital Cities/ABC by Disney, Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2009, the purchase of AOL by Verizon in 2015, and Jeff Bezos’ purchase of The Washington Post in 2013. 

Attendees in 2019 included Facebook bosses Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg;  Disney’s Bob Iger; 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki; Rupert Murdoch’s son, Lachlan Murdoch, who is the CEO of Fox Corporation; PayPal CEO Daniel Schulman; Instagram COO Marne Levine; McDonald’s chief Steve Easterbrook and billionaire media executive Shari Redstone.

Many guests arrive by private jet at nearby Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey before being chauffeured through 15 miles of lush rolling hills to the lodge. 

The conference began in 1982, and in its early days founder Herbert Allen – who co-founded Allen & Company with brother Charles – had to beg invitees to come. 

Attendees in 2019 included Ron Meyer (left), then-Vice Chairman of NBCUniversal, and David M. Zaslav (right), CEO of Discovery

Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company’s senior vice president of internet software Eddy Cue at the event in 2018