Drew Angerer, Getty images
Left to right: Apple CEO Tim Cook, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, and Apple senior VP of software and services Eddy Cue
The so-called summer camp for billionaires kicks off this week, as tech and entertainment industry moguls convene in Sun Valley, Idaho for the annual Allen & Co conference.Among those in attendance at this year's gathering are Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Disney CEO Bob Iger, and Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, which was acquired by Microsoft for $26.2 billion in June 0f 2016.
The event features several days of talks about business and the economy.
But the real action comes in the meetings, power lunches, and general chit-chat the moguls engage in between the formal sessions, which often provide the foundation to mega deals. These deals usually don't materialize until weeks or months later, which is why an army of reporters armed with telephoto lenses stalk the area, diligently snapping pics of what could be the next blockbuster deal.
Often the photos prove nothing more than the fact that Executive A had lunch with Executive B. But with so many high-powered execs in attendance (not to mention the fact the event is hosted by an investment bank eager to broker big corporate marriages that pay big fees), it's inevitable that some of these encounters lead to deals.
This year's event has plenty of interesting storylines. Jack Dorsey is at the event, as speculation swirls that this might finally be the year Twitter, the company he leads as CEO, finds a buyer. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is also there along with Amazon head Jeff Bezos, who is reportedly interested in acquiring the messaging service.
Here's a recap of some of the biggest deals that have been hatched at the conference over the years.