Facebook, Skype, Google, Microsoft in Sun Valley to Talk Business
Tech moguls such as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Eric Schmidt, as well as Bill Gates are some of the attendees convening in Sun Valley, Idaho this week to talk business.
The annual meeting, organized and funded in this resort city by investment bank Allen & Company, has been ongoing for almost three decades and is well known for not only gathering political leaders and the entertainment elite, but also for helping put together big-league business deals such as the purchase of NBC Universal by Comcast in 2009.
The business focus of this year's conference, however, could sway towards the popular video streaming site Hulu with Microsoft, Yahoo and Google each wanting to own it. The three companies reportedly have their representatives already in, and it is hard to expect what will come out of this blistering hot topic.
A second highlight for this event could be Bill Gates interviewing Zuckerberg. Scheduled to take place on Saturday, this event could shed more light on what seems to be a growing Facebook-Microsoft alliance.
Not only did Facebook recently unveil its new video calling tool in partnership with soon-to-be-Microsoft's Skype but Microsoft also owns a part of the social networking behemoth in what seems to be a collaboration – sounds like a plan to drive away some intruding Giant (that's a capped “G” by the way).
Although it is normally difficult to know what deals will be born from this summit – they are normally revealed after a few months – what is less clear is what this annual meeting is like.
Financial Times reporter David Gelles shared of the gathering, "These moguls are walking around in their Bahama shorts and their Hawaiian t-shirts and they're spending the afternoon with their families going river rafting. But at the same time some very serious business is getting done behind the scenes."
Apparently, these moguls came to engage in hardcore business but also to have some fun.