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Each year, an A-list group of CEOs, billionaire investors, university leaders, and politicians gather at Allen and Co.\u2019s eponymously named Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho for what many have labeled a \u201csummer camp for billionaires<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s an infamously private<\/a> event that\u2019s been closed to the press since it began in 1983, but the deals that are made inside this summer camp often have wide ranging impacts globally. Jeff Bezos famously hashed out<\/a> the details of his Washington Post<\/em> purchase at Sun Valley in 2013, for example, and Disney<\/a> and ABC executives did something similar in the weeks before their merger<\/a> in 1995.<\/p>\n This year, the guest list at the exclusive event will be as impressive as ever, with big names including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft<\/a> co-founder Bill Gates, Apple<\/a> CEO Tim Cook, Disney CEO Bob Iger, as well Amazon\u2019s CEO Andy Jassy and founder Jeff Bezos all planning to attend, according to a guest list<\/a> seen by Variety<\/em>. However, Sun Valley will also be down one oracle.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 94-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway<\/a>, Warren Buffett, also known as the Oracle<\/a> of Omaha, won\u2019t be attending what has long been one of his favorite events. Instead, he\u2019s sending his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 and eventual successor, Berkshire\u2019s vice chairman of non-insurance businesses Greg Abel.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a big shift for Buffett, who has regularly attended Sun Valley since the 1980s<\/a>, where guests can indulge in fly fishing and horseback riding while they stay at one of Ernest Hemingway\u2019s favorite spots, the now over $1,200 per night Sun Valley Lodge. While it\u2019s not Abel\u2019s first year attending Sun Valley, it will be his first year as the figurehead representing Berkshire.\u00a0<\/p>\n Buffett\u2019s absence could be seen as another sign that he\u2019s handing over more responsibility, and more public attention, to Abel as he ages.\u00a0<\/p>\n After the death<\/a> of Charlie Munger, the Oracle of Omaha\u2019s former right-hand man, last November, succession plans at Berkshire have been thrust into the spotlight. But Buffett has made it clear that he\u2019s been leaning on Abel for some time at Berkshire\u2019s annual shareholder meeting this year, which some have labeled a \u201cWoodstock for Capitalists.\u201d It seems Buffett is confident there won\u2019t be many changes at Berkshire once he\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really do much and I don\u2019t operate at the same level of efficiency that I would have thirty years ago or forty years ago\u2026when you\u2019ve got somebody like Greg (Abel) and Ajit (Jain), why settle for me? It has worked out extremely well,\u201d he told Berkshire\u2019s shareholders, also referencing Ajit Jain, who runs the conglomerate\u2019s insurance businesses.<\/p>\n Ever since Abel was named Buffett\u2019s likely successor<\/a> in 2021, there have been questions as to whether the Berkshire veteran, who started his career as an accountant before becoming an energy executive and eventually taking over Berkshire\u2019s non-insurance businesses, has the investing chops of his predecessor. But Buffett emphasized his confidence in his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 at Berkshire\u2019s annual shareholder meeting this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I were on that board and making that decision, I would probably, knowing Greg, I would leave the capital allocation to Greg,\u201d he said. \u201cHe understands businesses extremely well, and if you understand businesses you understand common stocks.\u201d<\/p>\n Buffett isn\u2019t the only big name who plans on skipping Sun Valley this year\u2014Tesla<\/a> CEO Elon Musk also won\u2019t be attending. In 2022, Musk gave a marque address at the event, but his performance left attendees wanting more after he declined to answer questions from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about his then still-brewing Twitter<\/a> acquisition in a follow-up panel, Bloomberg<\/em> reported<\/a>, citing unnamed sources.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not entirely surprising that Musk is avoiding Sun Valley, given the billionaire entrepreneur has made far fewer public appearances and given far fewer interviews in recent years, instead opting to speak to the public via X (formerly Twitter) on a daily basis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s refusal to attend, or answer pressing questions, does stand in stark contrast with his more-media friendly past, however. In 2015, after the explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket that was supposed to send cargo to the International Space Station\u2014one of SpaceX\u2019s biggest setbacks<\/a>\u2014Musk faced the media, giving an exclusive interview to CNBC<\/em> where he promised to figure out what went wrong and fix it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBuffett is staying home<\/h2>\n
Another missing titan<\/h2>\n
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