Finance·BillionairesPhotos: Tim Cook, Sam Altman and Silicon Valley’s elite arrive at the ‘summer camp for billionaires’BY Emily SteinbergerBY Emily Steinberger Apple CEO Tim Cook first att the Sun Valley Conference in 2012 and has been a consistent attendee ever since, for a few years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty ImagesWithin the re town of Sun Valley, Idaho, a small group of the world’s richest people are beginning to gather for Allen & Company’s annual Sun Valley Conference.
The four-day retreat, known informally as “summer camp for billionaires,” is full of opportunities for powerful figures to schmooze, network, and make deals.
Among this year’s cohort are tycoons Tim Cook of Apple, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Andy Jassy of Amazon.
Bob Iger and Michael Eisner, the current and former CEOs of Disney, respectively, are also in attendance, as well as General Motors CEO Mary Barra.
The conference has no shortage of political presence, too: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are both present at the conference this year.
Some of the camp’s usual suspects, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (who had his Venetian “Wedding of the Century” not too long ago) have not yet been spotted, though they were reported to have been invited to this year’s conference, according to Variety.
Additionally, Tesla’s Elon Musk wasn’t on the invite list, and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, who announced his retirement earlier this year, won’t be in attendance.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, speaks to members of the media after arriving in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The Sun Valley Conference is notoriously private and is known as a breeding ground for big deals between companies.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images In 2021, the total wealth of those attending the conference was reportedly more than $1 trillion.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Andy Jassy was first reported attending Sun Valley Conference in 2021, shortly after he became Jeff Bezos’s successor as CEO of Amazon.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Bob Iger, the current Disney CEO, arrives at Sun Valley Lodge. Sun Valley is reportedly the location where the merger between ABC and Disney went down back in 1995.
Then-CEO Michael Eisner—who is in attendance this year, too—met up with Capital Cities Chairman Thomas S. Murphy, according to the Los Angeles Times, and the rest was history.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, waves after arriving in Sun Valley, Idaho, for the annual conference, which she has att in previous years.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Ivanka Trump and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav are both in attendance at this year’s conference.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband and former senior advisor to Donald Trump, arrives at the Sun Valley Conference this year along with his wife.
David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images Venture capitalist and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang walk together at Sun Valley Lodge.
Only 35 guests att the inaugural conference back in 1983. Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi walks with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon at Sun Valley Lodge.
Khosrowshahi’s brother, Kaveh Khosrowshahi, is a managing director at Allen & Company, which hosts the conference.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos arrives at Sun Valley Lodge for Allen & Company’s annual conference.
Although the conference’s agenda is not public, it features activities including hiking, rafting, and golfing.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, arrives in Idaho for the Sun Valley Conference.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Alex Norström, Spotify’s Co-President and Chief Officer, is also in attendance at this year’s Sun Valley Conference.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images Gayle King, co-host of CBS Mornings and editor-at-large of Oprah Daily, attends the Sun Valley Conference.
Oprah Winfrey, who had att the Sun Valley Conference in the past, was not included on the invite list this year, according to Variety.
David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow Inc. , arrives at the Sun Valley Conference.
David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong first att the Sun Valley Conference back in 2021.
Kevin Dietsch—Getty ImagesIntroducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in America. Explore this year's list.