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Photos: Tim Cook, Sam Altman and Silicon Valley’s elite arrive at the ‘summer camp for billionaires’

July 9, 2025
06:18 PM
4 min read
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The annual Sun Valley Conference is a four-day event featuring some of the biggest names in business.

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4 min read

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business news

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Published

July 9, 2025

06:18 PM

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Fortune

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financewealthtechnologymarket cyclesseasonal analysisgeopolitical

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.