AI growth expected to dominate titans' talk at secretive annual ‘summer camp for billionaires'
The three-day secretive shindig in the mountain resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho, organized by the Allen and Company investment firm since 1983, is where America's financial, tech, and media elite meet each year.
Among the VIP guests expected to fly in on their private jets Tuesday and decamp to the Sun Valley Lodge are Apple CEO Tim Cook, newly-married Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Open AI boss Sam Altman and Meta titan Mark Zuckerberg, according to the leaked invitation roll call first obtained by Variety magazine.
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The hotel, once frequented by Ernest Hemingway, is where you have to pay some way for everything that is any good, to paraphrase the great author's quote from 'The Sun Also Rises.'
5 A lounge at the Sun Valley Lodge where VIPs will gather this week.
James Franey/NY Post
The Lodge's in-house watering hole, the Duchin Lounge, now sells 2015 Louis Roederer Cristal for $648 a bottle, while the most expensive red — a 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley in California — goes for $291, according to its wine list.
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The Post has learned that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will also be jetting into the nearby Friedman Memorial Airport later this week.
Authorities estimate that the tiny hub, a 30-minute drive from Sun Valley itself, could see as many as 175 aircraft arrive on Tuesday. Typically, there are only 10 scheduled commercial arrivals each day.
The airport will be charging private jet landing fees of $2,400, according to open-source data reviewed by The Post.
One person not expected at this year's event is Elon Musk, who has been too busy picking yet another fight with President Trump.
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5 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (right) and his now-wife Lauren Sanchez are Sun Valley regulars.
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5 Chris Davis, chairman and chief executive officer of Davis Selected Advisors LP, from left, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com Inc., Brian Grazer, chairman and chief executive officer of Imagine Entertainment, and Lauren Sanchez after the morning session at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, US, on Wednesday, July 10, 2024.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
The idea behind the annual event is for this country's titans of industry to discuss deals, politics, and the state of the global economy — all while having a great time taking part in bike rides, beautiful hikes and booze-fueled dinners.
It has been claimed that the networking sessions helped power Bezos's acquisition of the Washington Post in 2013 and The Walt Disney Company's 1996 merger with ABC.
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But with all of the meetings taking place behind closed doors and away from the gaze of the media, what the well-heeled guests actually do during this self-styled business boot camp remains a mystery.
Security ordered the Sun Valley Lodge to be shuttered on Monday so the regular Joes can be booted out and stop any of them from gatecrashing the uber-exclusive party.
5 Ernest Hemingway was a regular in Sun Valley throughout his life. His body is buried in nearby Ketchum.
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Anyone who tries to sneak in this year will be banned from the premises for the entire week, two sources close to the property said, and those with vehicles on site could even see them impounded.
Your correspondent will be staying at a reasonably priced lodge frequented by VIP staffers in nearby Ketchum, the sleepy and somber town where Hemingway took his own life in 1961.
5 The eye-popping champagne list at the Sun Valley Lodge, an old Ernest Hemingway favorite
James Franey/NY Post
Over the weekend, bar staff at the Lodge were overheard telling customers how they expect to rake in a big paycheck during the event.
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They claimed that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, an annual fixture at Sun Valley, was the biggest tipper last year, humiliating the presumably deep pockets of the finance and tech bros in attendance.
Your move, Zuck!
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