Sun Valley Photos: Media, Business Elite Converge On Annual Allen & Co Retreat

While no major news has yet come out of the Allen & Co. retreat in Sun Valley, which traditionally has the media elite trading in their business suits for their bathing suits, photographers have been hard at work snapping the executives in mogul casual. Below, photos of major media players making their arrivals to the Sun Valley conference, which began officially Wednesday morning. All photos (and captions) courtesy AP.

WEDNESDAY: CONFERENCE DAY 1 (LUNCH)

Edgar Bronfman, chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group, gives Wendi Deng, wife of Rupert Murdoch, a kiss during lunch

George Tenet, former head of the CIA, breaks for lunch

Michael Eisner, of Tornante Company and former head of Walt Disney Company, breaks for lunch

Barry Diller, chairman and CEO of IAC and chairman of Expedia, left, greets Edgar Bronfman, chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group, during lunch

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Peter Ueberoth, managing director of Contrarian Group and former head of Major League Baseball, breaks for lunch

Henry Kravis, founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., breaks for lunch

Casey Wasserman, chairman and CEO of Wasserman Media Group, breaks for lunch

Phllippe Dauman, president and CEO of Viacom, breaks for lunch with his wife Debbie

Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, breaks for lunch with girlfriend Diane Taylor

Vivi Nevo, president of NV Investments, right, talks with Edgar Bronfman, chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group

Edgar Bronfman, chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group, breaks for lunch

WEDNESDAY: CONFERENCE DAY 1

NBC News' Tom Brokaw

Barry Diller, chairman and CEO of IAC, and his wife, designer Diane von Furstenberg

Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of New Corporation and his wife, Wendi Deng

Murdoch and Deng

Don Graham, chairman and CEO of The Washington Post Company, greets a member of the media

Gustavo Cisneros, chairman and CEO of Cisneros Group of Companies, and his wife Patty

Herbert Allen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allen & Company

Robert Iger, president and CEO of Walt Disney Company, and his wife Willow Bay

Michael Volpi, CEO of Joost, and Toni Cupal

Charlie Rose, of the Charlie Rose Show, and Meredith Brokaw

Bill Miller, chairman and CIO of Legg Mason Capital Management

TUESDAY ARRIVALS

Lachlan Murdoch, director of Illyria Pty Limited and son of Rupert Murdoch

Blake Krikorian, president and CEO of Sling Media

David Zaslav, president and CEO of the Discovery Channel

Robert Iger, president and CEO of Walt Disney Company

Henry Vigil, senior vice-president of Strategy and Partnership for Microsoft

Tom Freston, of Firefly3 LLC (formerly CEO of Viacom)

Ronald Meyer, president and COO of Universal Studios

Michael Ovitz, former head of Walt Disney Company

Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation

Gordon Crawford, senior vice president of Capital Research Global Investors

Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation

Investor Vivi Nevo and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi

Comments

[trish74]

Hats off to Deng and Ziyi. I really couldn't do what you do, not even for my very own personal Hermes account.

[MichaelBoh]

Be AFRAID, be VERY AFRAID! I know I am.

[BigGuy]

All of these men look handsomer, thinner, and happier than most men the same age. Although only Barry Diller is known to be gay, they look like the "boys" at a high class gay bar -- all these middle-aged men look 20+ years younger than their age -- Rupert looks 30+ years younger. Also, as if we didn't already know that life's unfair, most of the men whose crotches are shown in these photos appear to be well blessed.

Nearly all shown are White. It'd be a lot better conference for everybody if Herb Allen got Oprah Winfrey to show up. She's not just lucky and personable; her show is good is because she's extraordinarily competent.

No one looks fat, except maybe Tom Brokaw on the bike.

[gerontion72]

WTF is George Tenet doing there?

[helmboy]

they are pretending to be important. overpaid, overpampered, evil eyed douchebags, hanging out pretending to be interesting with their anorexic trophy hags.

[Furby]

Hmmmm, 0 comments, 0 pending?

[CammyV]

Think Debby Dauman looks like a stick figure? She makes Calista Flockart look pudgy.

[atomic]

And everyone of them butt ugly ....

[VivaZapata]

when murdoch dies, assuming his fortune goes to his wife, one won't be butt ugly. anyway, it's not so much their outer disfigurement that's the problem. how'd they stuff all that goofiness together?

[neoprimordial]

I really appreciate actually having pictures of these various folks even though we know for the most part what they look like. Having the pictures highlights the demographics of this crowd, all these current and former movers & shakers. Someone else asked where's Arianna, but I think she has further to go before she gets welcomed into this group. The real question: where's Oprah? She definitely could have held her own there, and she could have represented, on two fronts: as a Black person, and as a female who is one of the most powerful and influential people in the world. As it stands, all the power brokers are Caucasian men, and all the women are Caucasian or Asian trophy wives, or just trophies, with Charlie Rose as referee. It's suspicious, sub rosa activity with the usual suspects. What's really going on with these retreats? (Thank you, "impatient," for relating a little of the play-by-play that Allen & co. engage in.)

[rachaelis4]

Agree with your post , I was wondering where Oprah was also...

[Furby]

And where's Waldo?

[luvangelHussein330]

Meet the men who control us, everything we listen to and see from websites to books...this is who we've given our power to...

[luvangelHussein330]

Meet the men who control us....

[FogBelter]

Rogue's Gallery

[LollieDotCom]

Let me get this straight, people here are bitching about the wives? You're kidding right, like that's important? With all these guys have control of every huge important thing in our lives, in one of the few posts you'll ever write that at least some billionaire's people will read.... all you care to do is complain about their wives? But not even their wives, just their wives looks?

I'd just like to say that I believe Warren Buffet is one of the greatest heros of our time and I wish the rest of the billionaires lived by his rules, values and beliefs. No one ever got rich for better reasons then that man. He probably won't appreciate the ass-kissing. But the other fellas needed to hear the truth out loud, so I said it anyways.

[troykendal]

I wanna join.....

[impatient]

From the Idaho Mountain Express:
Allen & Co. has only one office located a few blocks from Central Park in Manhattan, employs roughly 200 people, does not have a Web site, does not issue press releases, prohibits media from attending conference presentations and has no research department"a rarity for an investment firm.

What the firm lacks in transparency and traditional research it makes up for by quietly forging old-fashioned, long-lasting relationships. This is where the conference at Sun Valley comes into play.

For a week, the decision-makers of the corporate world discuss deals over golf, fly fishing, tennis, whitewater rafting and a myriad of other activities far removed from the typical board meeting. "Direct research" is the term given to the practice of bringing money managers into direct contact with clients and corporate executives at firm sponsored events. ...

One documented event indicative of the gravitational pull Allen & Co. brings to Sun Valley occurred in 2003. On the heels of revelations that CIA intelligence wrongly asserted Iraq's Saddam Hussein had attempted to buy uranium from the African nation of Niger"a major piece of evidence used to justify the invasion of Iraq"former CIA Director George Tenet was the most sought after man in Washington, D.C.

And while big city reporters and the Senate Intelligence Committee sought Tenet for comments, he was in Sun Valley, providing a private intelligence briefing to guests of "Camp Allen."

[Shaddup]

If only earth's crust would open and swallow them all.

[neoprimordial]

It would be cataclysmic, but ultimately all these people are tools (in the general sense of the word). For the most part they are in thrall to their access to wealth and power, and the moment they should choose not to be, or become unavailable to be such, they'll be eclipsed by others more than willing to take their place. In the face of natural and man-made disasters of all sorts, the system persists. If you could fundamentally change the system, however, you could make a difference.