Kobe Bryant may have four championship rings, but it's the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James who wrangled an invitation to hobnob with moguls at this week's Allen & Co. media-industry conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
James, who already has ties to the New York investment bank and is busy building his own empire, will be in good company. One would think with the economy in tatters and layoffs and cost-cutting the order of the day, attendance at what's been described as "summer camp for billionaires" would be down.
Evidently there's still some money in the travel budget. More than 260 old- and new-media chieftains, investment bankers, venture capitalists, politicians, agents and academics have been invited to participate in the five-day event, where they get to talk, listen and freely exchange ideas about what's in store for the media industry.
Among those expected this year are Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bewkes, Sumner Redstone, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg and Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J. (Maybe Booker's going to try to lure big media to his state; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appears to be skipping the conference this year.)
The Murdochs will make a mini-family reunion out of it, with oldest son Lachlan from Australia expected to pop in to visit with his father, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, and younger brother and latest heir apparent James.
In fact, News Corp. may be the most well-represented company at Sun Valley. Besides Rupert and James Murdoch, new Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey is on the list, as is Jonathan Miller, new chairman and chief executive of the company's digital media units, and Owen Van Natta, CEO of MySpace. Former News Corp. COO Peter Chernin is also expected to be on the grounds, albeit as a mere producer.
All four major pro-sports commissioners are usually there as well. Excuse NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, though, if he appears a little tired. He's scheduled to arrive in Sun Valley after finishing a climb up Mt. Rainier.
In between rafting, knitting, yoga, chess and bridge (Buffett and Gates are big bridge players), big deals are known to have been hatched during the conference's 26-year history. The most famous marriage with roots in Sun Valley was Walt Disney Co.'s deal to buy Capital Cities/ABC Inc. in 1995, which came out of a random meeting in the parking lot of then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner, CapCities board member Buffett and the company's CEO, Tom Murphy.
