![]() You could ask the question, Will humility have set in to the environs of a place heretofore attended by nothing short of unbridled self-confidence? What will be the level of reflection in the private conversations and side lunches and all that?”įor some additional perspective, I called Ken Auletta, who’s been to Sun Valley a number of times since the mid-’90s, including in 1999, when he became the first-and as far as he knows still only-reporter to be granted full on-the-record access to the über-exclusive and highly secretive affair. Now everybody’s stock has declined and the actual models are being questioned. As one of my sources mused, “Everybody was walking around there the last few years with their chests strutted out. Aside from the never-ending COVID spiral, the sociopolitical convulsions, and the unsettling global turmoil, fortunes have reversed the stock market’s down, inflation’s up, and recession fears loom large. One year later, the world is positively on fire. Business leaders were emerging from the monotony of remote work and Zoom meetings, ready to let loose and breathe the same indoor air, the ink on their vaccine cards still fresh, the world getting back to normal. Last year’s festivities came with a certain buoyant optimism. My conversations also veered toward the larger picture, the backdrop to all the freewheeling panel discussions and furtive confabs. How are they thinking about it?” Another wondered whether Netflix might begin to look like an acquisition candidate, noting the steep plunge in the company’s market capitalization and value: “They still have something most people don’t have, which is 220 million subscribers and a great technology platform.” “It's a big sea change for them in their business. “To see how Reed and Ted engage with people will be interesting for sure,” one source said. That story will be hanging in the air as attendees amble along the resort grounds in their signature fleece vests. One of the biggest stories in media this past spring was the company’s stunning subscriber loss, its first in 10 years, with further bleeding projected in the second quarter. Now, those others are catching up, which means Netflix bosses Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos find themselves fighting to hold on to the throne. streaming service was king of the jungle, the pinnacle to which all others aspired as they began to recalibrate their businesses for the unbundled, multiplatform future. (As another conference-goer joked, “When everyone ran out of stuff to talk about in the media business, they started gossiping about Chapek.”) Chapek, of course, will arrive in Idaho with a new three-year contract, putting to bed speculation that, following a series of highly publicized stumbles, his Disney stewardship may not be long for this world. Someone else who has attended the conference over the years alternatively posited, “Everybody will be watching for the body language between Chapek and Iger, the Game of Thrones dynamic between the current emperor and the past emperor, and how that will shake out.” This source was referring, obviously, to the two Bobs- Bob Iger, the legendary former CEO of Disney, and Bob Chapek, the embattled current Disney boss-whose well-documented falling-out has been grist for the Hollywood gossip mill. “I definitely think Elon will grab a lot of attention,” one Sun Valley fixture told me. The Tesla boss isn’t just one of the most talked about and controversial people in the business world-he’s become one of the most talked about and controversial figures in the entire world, and his likely ownership of Twitter is seen as having major implications for free speech and democracy and the ability of platforms to rein in disinformation in a highly polarized society. For starters, there’s Elon Musk, who is expected to attend for the first time in several years, as his rollercoaster Twitter takeover inches toward some sort of spectacular conclusion. ![]() But other attendant honchos will surely elicit a greater deal of scrutiny and interest. “There was a line wherever he was,” Oprah Winfrey told me at the time, relaying a scene report from Gayle King.Īs this year’s so-called summer camp for billionaires kicks off Tuesday, Zaslav will hardly want for company while sipping cocktails in the Duchin Lounge. ![]() Zaslav had just pulled off a deal for the history books: the creation of Warner Bros. This time last year, as the illustrious guests of Allen & Company’s annual mogul bonanza were pulling up to the entrance of the storied Sun Valley Resort in the mountains of central Idaho, David Zaslav stepped out of his chauffeured SUV and gave an interview about big-media’s robust appetite for M&A.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |