The Secret Billionaire Bootcamp
Lining the picturesque Idaho horizon is a fleet of jets to make even Boeing jealous! Belonging to a score of media moguls and tech titans, a billionaire deal-fest is about to commence at this year’s invite-only Sun Valley summit!ย
As soon as the planes touched down and the guests settled in, conflabs immediately began. Market watchers are expecting the unexpected, as mergers and acquisitions traditionally hot up at this time. The execs will be on a tight schedule, however. NFL, NBA, PGA, and MLB commissioners will gather, before a curious one-on-one meeting between stock market pacesetters Microsoft, and software firm, Workday. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall for that one?
In fact, despite this being a no name-tags-needed type of event, Workday represents a crop of fresh faces this year whom investors are rooting for to get some deals done. Rental site Airbnb, flying car company Joby, and drone start-up Zipline are some of the younger attendees to settle into Sun Valley, and smugly tell us how much they’re enjoying “the good weather” and “a welcome break” on the lakes.ย
Safe to say, not everyone is a fan of this secret meeting. Some who didn’t get an invite call it an elitist power assembly for deep-pocketed capitalists, only trying to consolidate their richness and plot more scheme-ish tricks to keep the masses blind and obedient. A little OTT perhaps, but it’s hard for these business leaders to deny the carbon footprint they’ve just stamped down on the Northwest USA.ย
Still, given the stock market swings that follow billionaires’ flights home from these conferences, it might be wise to keep an ear to the wall. As leaders swarm to the Allan & Co. summit, the rest of us sit on the edge of our seats. Anything could happen here!