Day 76:) Billionaire’s Summer Camp
Have you heard of any such camp? It has been there since July 1983. It is a one week invite only event, wholly organized by Allen & Company, a private investment firm founded in 1922. It is an annual media finance conference, held annually at Sun Valley, Idaho. Previous conference guest has included with the likes of Larry Page, Sergey Bin, Warren Buffet Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Jeff Bezos and many more.
The conference is unique on its own way. The elite successful people are open as the media houses are not there to report any of the doings or the talks. Secondly, people don’t commit any wrong doings else one wouldn’t be invited next time. The people there can play Golf, swim and do many more fun activities apart from networking
The invitation cards unique for everyone. The meetings are scheduled beforehand. Moreover, the kids are being cared too, so that they aspire to revisit. Media moguls say their sons and daughters have made lifelong friends here, engaging in junior networking.
The camp has planted the seeds of mergers and acquisition. Microsoft bought LinkedIn. Jeff’s purchase of The Washington Post, Verizon’s acquisition of the Yahoo and in 1995 Disney’s merger with ABC.
“Herbert Allen, the so-called “Lord of Sun Valley” and the conference’s quiet choreographer, set the tone of casual luxury that pervaded the event”- excerpt from the book, The Snowball
The cost of the conference is around $10 million, on an average $35,000 per invited family. Much of the money goes into exhaustive security and logistics.