A cross-section of front-rank executives from the media and tech sectors has gathered in Sun Valley, Idaho, for Allen & Co.’s annual conference. This year’s edition of the event, held each July since 1983, gets underway on Tuesday. It is unfolding in the wake of several pivotal mergers and with questions swirling about near-term M&A scenarios and the unsettled order of a commingled universe, in which traditional media and tech giants are increasingly intersecting.
The 2023 Allen & Co. conference’s attendees from Hollywood are facing profit pressures and thorny questions around AI, cord-cutting and consolidation when the annual gathering kicks off on Tuesday. This year’s conference comes during a difficult time for legacy media giants, which have been cutting costs left and right as investors have shifted their focus from streaming growth to profitability.
The first full day of Allen & Co.’s exclusive conference and retreat for the wealthy and well-connected concluded Wednesday at the luxe Sun Valley resort. Even among the assembled 1%-ers, there was anticipation for the arrival of the maverick leader of Tesla and SpaceX, who is expected to make an appearance at the annual meeting of moguls and C-suite titans.
Media tongues are wagging about what potential streaming collaborations might be brewing in the wake of this week’s Allen & Co. conference for tech and media moguls. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, who has been reportedly mulling a potential acquisition of media assets, met with ViacomCBS Chair Shari Redstone on Wednesday, according to an attendee with knowledge of the sitdown. The powwows between media bosses at the Sun Valley confab reached a new level of intensity this year, including meetings between bosses at Disney and Netflix as well as at Comcast and ViacomCBS, one source says.
Allen & Co.’s “summer camp for billionaires” returns to Sun Valley, Idaho, this week after taking a COVID-induced hiatus — and a lot has changed since the power powwow was last held in 2019. This year, media moguls will share the limelight with titans of industries that got an outsize boost after the world shut down last year to stave off the deadly coronavirus.
Exclusives
Media moguls, tech barons, entrepreneurs and others are gathering Tuesday at Idaho’s Sun Valley Lodge for the annual conference and retreat hosted by investment bank Allen & Co. The movers and shakers come together at a time of disruption and transformation in the industry and turmoil and division in the culture at large. The fates of the largest media companies are up in the air amid the battle for control of 21st Century Fox between Disney and Comcast, the dynastic drama surrounding CBS Corp. and Viacom, and AT&T closing the deal at long last for Warner Bros., HBO, and Turner.
It’s that time of year when media barons break out the bike shorts and descend en masse on Sun Valley, Idaho, for investment firm Allen & Co.’s exclusive conference. The gathering of the 1% has developed a reputation over the years for being a hotbed of dealmaking.
Topics at the annual Allen & Co. gathering today through Sunday are likely to include Univision’s plans for an IPO, ongoing concerns over cord-cutting and Apple’s foray into subscription music.
As billionaires and dealmakers descend upon Sun Valley, Idaho, for the Allen & Co. media conference this week, security personnel are on the lookout for a new kind of threat: drones. Event staff are watching the skies for unmanned aerial vehicles that could photograph, harass or harm attendees at the annual gathering of business executives, according to two people familiar with the plans who asked not to be named.
SUN VALLEY MEDIA MOGUL CONFAB
Hulu Sale Casting Shadow Over Sun Valley
The auction for the Web video hub is starting to rankle bidders, with suitors wondering what program rights are included in the hefty billion-dollar price tag and whether the owners are truly committed to a sale, sources say. “There’s a lot of frustration on all sides,” one source says. “This industry just can’t work together.”
SUN VALLEY MEDIA MOGUL CONFAB
Malone Urges DirecTV-Dish Network Merger
Liberty Media Corp. Chairman John Malone urged fellow billionaire Charlie Ergen to combine Dish Network Corp. with DirecTV to get the advantages of bigger bulk in the pay-TV business. “It would be good if DirecTV could combine with Echo or Dish or whatever Charlie calls it now just because scale economics in the media business drives down costs and makes it possible for larger investment,” Malone said in an interview at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Sun Valley, the annual mogul get-together hosted by Allen & Company which kicks off Tuesday evening, will have golf, creek-side cocktails and the King of Jordan. But what about the deals? Anything can happen between rounds of golf and closed-door panels — but it’ll probably be consolidation.
ALLEN & CO. CONFERENCE
Web-TV Models Under Study At Sun Valley
Media moguls gathered at the annual Allen & Co. conference have spent recent years contemplating how to cope with technology drawing audiences away from TV and movies. This time, film and TV executives know just where their businesses are headed. Once threatened by internet players such as Netflix, traditional entertainment companies now view online outlets as a rich new vein.
Looks like the media and tech moguls attending investment bank Allen & Co.’s conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, this week will be spending much of their time learning about foreign affairs. The closely guarded agenda for the annual gathering features several panels aimed at bringing the captains of industry up to speed on current events around the globe.
Billionaires Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg lead the roster of executives invited to Allen & Co.’s annual media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, this week. Also on the guest list are CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves; IAC/InterActiveCorp. Chairman Barry Diller; AOL Inc. CEO Tim Armstrong; Time Warner Inc. CEO Jeff Bewkes; Viacom Inc. CEO Philippe Dauman; Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt and News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch.
Now that Hulu is on the auction block, its media company owners are making sure the popular online video website gets plenty of exposure. On Wednesday, at investment bank Allen & Co.’s annual gathering of media and tech moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho, Disney CEO Bob Iger told reporters that Hulu’s owners, which includes Disney, were “committed to selling” the 3-year-old venture.
ANNUAL SUN VALLEY CONFERENCE
With Hulu In Play, Media Moguls Gather
Media executives gather at Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley conference this week looking to shed assets such as the Hulu video website and G4 game channel amid a declining global stock market and slowing economic growth. Rupert Murdoch and executives from Hulu’s owners will join Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg among about 300 participants scheduled to arrive today for the weeklong annual conference in Idaho organized by the investment bank.
