This year’s Allen & Co. conference is well underway in Sun Valley, Idaho. As it did last year and the year before, artificial intelligence looms large at the annual gathering of media moguls. In recent years, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, LinkedIn founder Reed Hoffman, and Apple’s Tim Cook are among the tech giants who have become returning guests. This year is no different. Outside the quaint Sun Valley Lodge, founders and executives wander in and out of sight, rubbing shoulders with each other and with power players from across industries.
Little has been revealed about the agenda of the week-long retreat or the substance of the numerous panel discussions. The conference organizer, the notoriously secretive investment firm Allen & Co., allows a small group of journalists to take photos of attendees outside the main venue only as they move around the resort. So we are left to read as much of these images as we can – especially group shots and sometimes the absence of familiar faces – in search of clues to friendship, rivalry, complex alliances and potential business synergies.
In Sun Valley this week, Sheryl Sandberg was spotted happily catching up with her former Meta colleague Marne Levin, strolling alongside energy tech investor Phil Deutch; Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, radiating social energy, has a brief chat with Wendi Murdoch and investor Henry Ellenbogen; Palantir’s Alex Karp is shown in deep conversation with Alexandre Arnault, middle son of LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault, along a winding summer road; Jeff Bezos and his new wife are still inseparable.
On the other end of the spectrum, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Notion founder Ivan Zhao look completely at ease as they walk alone behind dark shades, while Sam Altman and his CEO Brett Taylor face the cameras head-on with relaxed smiles, as if they have nothing to hide.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
Sam Altman and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky (left) and West Elm designer Carly Helfrich
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez Bezos
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy (right)
Palantir CEO Alex Karp
Alex Karp (right) and former Rimowa CEO Alexandre Arnault (left)
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel
Notion founder and CEO Evan Chow
OpenAI President and Sierra AI Co-Founder Brett Taylor
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and investor Wendi Murdoch
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Henry Ellenbogen, founder of Permanent Capital Partners.
LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partners founder Reid Hoffman (left)
Spotify co-CEO Alex Norstrom
Samsung Electronics President Jay Y. Lee (left) and Jinman Han, Samsung Electronics President of Hardware Solutions Americas
Former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg (right), former Meta business CEO Marn Levin (left) and Phil Deutsch, founder of NGP Energy Technology Partners III
XO Group CEO Mike Stepp and his wife Kemp Stepp
