Sun Valley: The Billionaire Summit That Shapes Big Tech, Media, Power Negotiations

Every summer, the small town of Sun Valley, Idaho, transforms into the epicenter of elite power networking.

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Since 1983, the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference has brought together the most powerful figures in technology, media, and finance for an off-the-record retreat that looks deceptively casual—billionaires in vests and sneakers strolling past wildflower meadows. But beneath the summer-camp aesthetics lies something more serious: a Davos-style gathering where industry-shaping deals are seeded, softened, or sealed.

"It's the one place where CEOs drop their guards—and pitch over Pinot Noir," said a former media executive who has attended multiple times.

Run by the secretive investment bank Allen & Co., Sun Valley has become a proving ground for industry alignment, where strategic marriages—media mergers, tech buyouts, and even leadership successions—are quietly nudged forward through socializing rather than spreadsheets.