Fireworks won't be the only July Fourth mainstay filling the valley sky this weekend. The Wood River Valley has a unique tradition of its own.
An armada of private jets—stowing some of the world's most powerful CEOs—will be raining down on the valley. A few have already arrived at Hailey's Friedman Memorial Airport. But come Tuesday, July 6, the small airport will be so packed with private jets parked side by side that they'll need to be arranged head to toe.
About 300 media and technology magnates, including frequent guests Microsoft Chair Bill Gates, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet, will be spending five days in Sun Valley starting Tuesday.
They're here to talk shop in a setting more relaxed than the common boardroom. They're here for the 28th annual Allen & Co. conference, hosted by the New York City investment firm at Sun Valley Resort.
The media and technology moguls will listen to speeches and participate in panels. They'll also talk business while bicycling, playing golf, shooting skeet and rafting on whitewater. It's an opportunity to foster big deals.
Michael Eisner—former CEO of the Walt Disney Co.—reportedly first discussed Disney's 1996 purchase of Capitol Cities/ABC while driving around Sun Valley.
Rumors about the five-day conference at Sun Valley Resort started to percolate in the national news, such as The New York Times, early this week. The story has quickly spread that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be in attendance to pull at the ear of other executives whose content he wants for Apple's products.
But much about the conference is speculation, as always, as details are often hard to come by. Allen & Co. and Sun Valley Resort keep the guest list, as well as the schedule of events, a secret. And a special guest usually shows up, such as Tony Blair in 2008—who, at that point, had just finished duties as British prime minister.
Mandy Tavakol, Allen & Co.'s executive director of the Sun Valley conference, acknowledged in a phone interview that Tuesday is the conference's first day, but said all else is confidential. And the tight-lipped treatment is the same for all news agencies, whether a small-town paper or the Wall Street Journal. No information and no entry into events.
Reclusiveness is a way of business for Allen & Co., a third-generation investment firm still in the family under the leadership of President Herbert Allen III. The company has no website and far less notoriety than most of its guests.
It sends out no announcements or press releases declaring the conference's return. But everyone knows it's happening, evident in the paparazzi atmosphere one gets at the resort. Long lenses and the press always abound, hoping to catch wind of the next big deal.
Besides the panels and speeches taking place behind closed doors, the CEOs and their families will spend much of their time in public sight enjoying five days of what Sun Valley has to offer. Regardless of the big names participating in Allen & Co.'s conference, the event will be a quick but impactful economic boost to the valley and its small businesses.
Olin Glenn, bicycle shop manager for Sturtos in Ketchum, said babysitters for the conference attendees' families routinely rent about 50 bicycles for the week. This amounts to about two-thirds of Sturtos' bicycle stock.
Carol Waller, executive director for the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau, said the guests bring in a lot more than just increased business. Sun Valley receives international exposure in magazines, newspapers and television.
Terry Ring, owner of Silver Creek Outfitters, the fly-fishing and guiding specialists on Main Street in Ketchum, said Allen & Co. has been the company's largest customer for the past 25 years. But that's not what's most important to Ring.
In 2007, Allen & Co. gave Ketchum a grant to help implement a free Wi-Fi Internet access in the city core, and previously 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.
"They have been boosters to our community and way of life here," Ring said.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
Private jets like these have already started to pour in for the 28th annual Allen & Co. conference starting Tuesday, July 6.
Photo by Mountain Express
