Where Vacationing Media Moguls Enjoy More Than Scenery

Tuesday marks the start of Allen & Co.’s annual media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, a “summer camp” for the world’s communication and technology industry leaders, their families, and prominent political figures.

As in the past, the guest list reads like a Who’s Who of major market movers—Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch are but a few of the invitees to an event that has steadily grown in attendance and scope since its inception 30 years ago. But the gathering is more than an opportunity for corporate heads to relax with their fellow business luminaries—many major media deals have been molded in the mountains surrounding the city of Ketchum.