Sun Valley's Lusty Old Men Are Fickle

Allen & Company is doing its annual thing in Sun Valley, Idaho, in which old moguls shamelessly ogle the most supple young internet startups. This year, everyone's drooling over Twitter. Last year's trophy companies? Not looking so sexy. More »

Sergey Brin cares about the children

Google CEO Eric Schmidt and cofounder Larry Page sat down with reporters for over an hour during an impromptu press conference while playing Bilderbergers at Allen & Co.'s exclusive Sun Valley getaway yesterday. There was talk of Google's Android cell-phone operating system; of China; of the search-ads deal with Yahoo. But it was fitness enthusiast Sergey Brin, rushing in late after a reported flat bicycle tire, who stole the show with feel-good blather: More »

Sun Valley moguls spent $4,300 to $6,110 on shrubs to keep reporters at bay

Among the news from Allen & Co.'s Sun Valley retreat for the rich: Marc Andresseen continues his campaign to tell old media they are old; Carl Icahn would settle for any Microsoft offer that pays $30 or more per Yahoo share; some industrial chemical giant agreed to buy some other company no one's ever heard of. Yet none of the stories feature photographs of the deals going down. Why? Because unlike in years past, the retreat organizers have banned reporters and photographers from "the beloved cafe at the Inn," reports Reuters. What's more, to keep these reporters and photographers from stalking their prey on the hotel's grounds — as any good reporter would — organizers resorted to shrubbery to further shield the moguls' privacy. From the tags still left on the brand-new shrubs (how nouveau gauche), Reuters reporter Kenneth Li estimates organizers spent between $4,300 and $6,110 on the organic fence.

Who's Kara Swisher afraid of?

Ruthless reporter Kara Swisher didn't get invited to superbanker Herb Allen's annual VIP gathering in Sun Valley. So she's taking matters into her own hands and ... complaining on her blog? Kara, stop it. I've seen you in action. You're The Bride of tech reporting. When you enter the room, security guards flee. PR bunnies chew off their own heads rather than face you. You disembowel Old Boys Club members with questions so sharp they barely feel a thing until it's too late. So quit whining and man up, Kara. Just get yourself to Sun Valley. You'll get in. You'll have the head table before dinner is finished. I almost feel sorry for the poor sonsabitches they send to stop you. Send us your posts and we'll lazily relink them. Now GO.

"It's good, but you could add a sentence: Google is [bleep] and Viacom is fantastic" — Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone, correcting a reporter's story at last month's Sun Valley mogulfest. [Page Six]

Sergey Brin and Butt-Head

Pictured left, Google co-founder Sergey Brin chatting at last week's Sun Valley confab with Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Allen & Company managing director Nancy Peretsman. Pictured right, Butt-Head, the Mike Judge-created character from 1990s cult cartoon Beavis and Butt-Head. Note the same puffed-up hair, squinty eyes, and basic t-shirt, though we figure Brin to be a bit more intelligent than the animated teenager. No word on whether Brin has ever participated in Frog Baseball. More »

The mogulfest attended by Rupert Murdoch, Sumner Redstone, and the Google guys ceases to be a war of raging egos, descends into a hand-holding, kumbaya-singing commune. [Dealscape]

Google CEO Eric Schmidt surprises reporters at the Idaho mogulfest by joining them for a late-night bull session at the hotel bar. During the hour-long chat, he slams Viacom ("Just look at their history, they built their company on lawsuits") and dismisses Yahoo's Panama advertising system. [NYT]

"We're interchangeable." — Google cofounder Sergey Brin, on why he replaced an ill Larry Page on a panel at this week's Sun Valley confab. [New York Times]

Mark Zuckerberg's substitute player

The moguls wandering through Sun Valley, Idaho, in the hopes of running into Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, will be sorely disappointed. Contrary to reports, he's not attending the conference, appearing instead at Fortune's iMeme conference in San Francisco. Sun Valley will have to settle for Facebook COO Owen Van Natta. Though they might not mind the substitution. Van Natta comes with several years of experience as Amazon's vice president of worldwide business and corporate development, where his duties included brokering deals with the same Hollywood types now clogging Sun Valley's streets.

New names attending the mogul confab in Sun Valley, ID this week: Googlers Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Facebook COO Owen Van Natta, and "top executives" from LinkedIn. [Washington Post]

Who's selling, who's buying at the Allen confab?

Sun Valley, the quiet Idaho ski resort town, is about to get a charge from Silicon Valley. Allen & Co., the New York investment bank, has been holding an exclusive conference there for 25 years, but until recently, the invite list has been limited to old-media moguls. On the invite list for this year's conference, which kicks off tonight: Jay Adelson, CEO of Digg, the social-news website, which he cofounded with Kevin Rose. Here's why we think Adelson's on the list — and who else might show up. More »