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It's just as well that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. has committed to an initial public offering because — let's face it — the buyout firm's co-founder and not-so-public-face Henry R. Kravis has been preparing for the "quiet period" his entire life. He's no different at this year's Sun Valley mogulfest, although when it comes to secrecy, he may have found a soulmate in Michael Ovitz. The two actually entered Thursday morning's sessions together, accompanied by Kravis' wife, Marie-Josée. There, according to conference host Herbert Allen, the "who's who" in media, entertainment and convergent technology were set to hear about healthcare and terrorism. After that, the 300-plus guests of media investment bank Allen & Co. were to get more narrowly down to business with a panel on content. Its slated participants were inspired choices: Amazon.com Inc.'s Jeff Bezos, IAC/InterActiveCorp's Barry Diller and Google Inc.'s Larry Page.
But on doing the mogul equivalent of a perp walk, which has resort security keeping journalists within narrow and prescribed bounds, Diller confessed on approaching the Sun Valley Inn early Thursday morning that he has never grasped what "content" really means. And when informed he would soon be addressing the subject as an expert, he acknowledged his presence on the content panel and then predicted, "That will be the trouble." During his brisk walk down the press gauntlet, News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch said he had "no comment on anything," even though the only subject of any immediacy for him to have commented upon was Dow Jones & Co. Not even an exclamation from the press that bag boy-turned-billionaire Ron Burkle might be playing interloper to Murdoch's $5 billion offer for Dow Jones managed to slow the 76-year-old. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, as casual as it gets in shorts and a striped polo, again entered the conference through a side entrance. But his low-profile presence hasn't kept him from urging Bloomberg journalists at the event to browbeat all moguls in attendance with ever more questions. Others choosing the side entrance, but getting sighted and snapped anyway, included Harvey Weinstein of the Weinstein Co., Brad Grey of Paramount Pictures and Sue Decker of Yahoo! Inc. Speaking of Yahoo!, ousted CEO Terry Semel chose the same entrance but, given how visible and personable he was at an Allen & Co. dinner last night, his motivation was more likely convenience rather than privacy. Semel also qualified in the "strange bedfellows" category — like Kravis and Ovitz before him — by walking into the session with Nike Inc. co-founder and former CEO Philip H. Knight. These sorts of pairings, as Allen & Co. knows so well, are what keeps its mogulfest as stimulating as the Idaho mountain air. —Richard Morgan See earlier dispatches from Sun Valley Categories Deal Video
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