The annual Allen and Company conference in Sun Valley, Idaho kicked off Tuesday, and the so-called billionaire summer camp features a striking Disney lineup this year: current CEO Josh D’Amaro, his predecessor Bob Iger, and former chief Michael Eisner, representing three eras of leadership at the company. Forbes reports Iger and D’Amaro were photographed arriving together at the Sun Valley Lodge on July 7, with Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden, Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman, and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro rounding out the company’s contingent.
Why Sun Valley Matters
The invite-only retreat has long been the birthplace of blockbuster media deals, and this year’s edition arrives at a genuinely volatile moment for the industry. Comcast just announced plans to spin off NBCUniversal into a standalone company, Paramount Skydance’s David Ellison is pursuing Warner Bros. Discovery, and tech leaders like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman are all walking the same grounds as the media chiefs. For D’Amaro, attending as Disney’s newly minted CEO puts him in the room where the next round of industry realignment gets discussed.
Iger And Eisner Remain Fixtures
Iger, who handed the reins to D’Amaro in March and rejoined Thrive Capital in April, remains a Sun Valley regular alongside his wife, USC Annenberg dean Willow Bay. Eisner, who ran Disney from 1984 to 2005 and now leads The Tornante Company, is a longtime fixture of the conference as well. Iger has stayed plenty candid about his Disney years since stepping down, recently revealing that Apple passed on buying Disney and that he nearly acquired Twitter. Whether any Disney-adjacent deal talk emerges from the mountains this week remains to be seen, but with this much Disney brainpower in one lodge, we will be watching closely.
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