Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Get ready, here they come

Valley gears up for Allen & Co. extravaganza


By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was one of many distinguished guests at last year’s Allen & Co. event, the presence of which draws large numbers of the national media to Sun Valley every June. While conference participants spend the majority of their time on resort property, the famous faces also take to Ketchum’s streets and shops throughout the week. Photo by Willy Cook

Like the private jets that signify its start, the Allen & Co. conference is scheduled to touch down in the Wood River Valley next week. The annual event brings with it a trifecta of perennial certainties: swirling rumors of multibillion dollar deals, more celebrity sightings than an L.A. Lakers game and a tremendous boost to the local economy.

For the 26th year in a row, Wall Street investment banker Herb Allen Jr. is bringing together major players from the media, technology, computer and entertainment industries for the five-day conference.

While the guest list, like nearly every other aspect of the event, is closely guarded, few would be surprised to see conference regulars such as Warren Buffett, Rupert Murdoch, Diane von Furstenberg and Bill and Melinda Gates.

Of course, after last year's surprise visit from Tony Blair—who, at that point, had just finished his duties as the British prime minister—there's likely to be speculation of who Allen will unveil this summer.

But ahead of the event, this information is as difficult to come by as nuclear warhead launch codes, thanks to a secrecy characteristic of Allen's firm, and as evidenced by the confidentiality agreements signed by all conference employees.

In fact, even the dates of the event are unconfirmed, although Sun Valley marketing director Jack Sibbach said that the bulk of the resort's rooms have been reserved from July 7 through 12.

Members of the national media, accustomed to open doors on Wall Street, find themselves on par with local reporters, standing at the edges, futilely hoping that whispers of the next big deal will leak out of the resort's conference rooms.

Along with the news of Mr. Gates' move away from the helm in June, Microsoft has lit up business sections around the globe with its unsuccessful $47.5 billion takeover bid of Yahoo as an attempt to compete with Google for a larger share of the Internet audience.

Although Gates recently reported that he did not think such a deal was likely, perhaps a few schooners at Grumpy's could reconcile the disagreement that led the software giant to withdraw its bid for the Internet company in May.

Reportedly, that difference amounted to $4 per share, because new Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was unwilling to increase the purchase price from $33 to $37 per share, as requested by Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang.

While it could take months for any deals conceived in Sun Valley to be felt in the stock pages, the economic impact from the conference will be immediate on the ground.

"Allen & Co. has been our largest customer for the last 25 years," said Terry Ring, owner of Silver Creek Outfitters, the fly-fishing and guiding specialists located on Main Street in Ketchum. "The conference supports the community in an enormous way, and Herb Allen, on his own, has been incredibly generous, especially considering he's a part-time resident."

This generosity has been evidenced by the company's grant last summer to help Ketchum implement a free Wi-Fi Internet access in the city core, as well as a $1.5 million donation to help build St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center. The front lobby of the hospital bears a plaque with the company's name.

With around 1,000 well-heeled guests, it's no surprise that local merchants find their coffers filling up more quickly than usual.

Last summer, Sturtos in Ketchum rented out about 60 bicycles to guests and employees who were in charge of childcare.

"This draws more high-end customers than any other single event," said Debbie Burns, owner of the clothing shop Burnsie's Boca and a member of the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission. "I let my employees go work at the conference because I know they need the financial injection. In return, word of my shop gets around and families come in year after year."

Like Burns' employees, many young adults in the Wood River Valley find temporary but lucrative employment during the conference, working in everything from childcare to chauffeuring.

"There's a lot of economic spin-off from the conference—from direct spending by the guests to direct employment to indirect spending as a result of the first two," said Carol Waller, executive director of the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau.

"In addition to the direct economic impact, there is also a significant positive public relations impact from the national media coverage."

Waller estimated that the coverage given to the event amounts to approximately $200,000.

For the entire community, it means millions.

"We love it. Every year they book the entire restaurant for one night," said Shawn Tierney, owner of the Italian restaurant Il Naso. "It's a great benefit not only to us but the entire valley. We're lucky Herb Allen chose Sun Valley for the location of the conference. Now we just need more events like this."

Maybe someone should let Mr. Allen know about last winter's snowfall.




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