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The moguls are in session. This, finally, after dozens of their Gulfstreams dropped down Tuesday in nearby Friedman Memorial Airport, with families often in tow, for that annual schmoozefest sponsored by Allen & Co. Among the first making his way past a journalistic gauntlet that Barry Diller would later call “a gaggle” was, fittingly, host Herbert Allen. It’s his 25th year of bringing media and entertainment biggies together, and he’s smartly expanding the 300-something guest list to include digiterati as well. Allen, whose arrival at the Sun Valley Inn preceded the 7:30 a.m. kickoff session by an hour, reported the opening would feature a presentation from Time Warner Inc. captains Dick Parsons and Jeff Bewkes. Also on the morning agenda were some private equity ruminations about whether past is prologue for this secretive class of dealmaker with a sudden interest in going public. A while later, within a distance of 20 yards, Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi Deng trailed Diller, his wife, Diane von Furstenberg, and at least one of the wife’s offspring. Murdoch played coy as he ducked past journalists, who are denied access to the sessions, until asked if he wasn’t about to yank his $60 per share offer for Dow Jones & Co. “You never know,” he said, hurrying past security. Murdoch’s oldest son, Lachlan, wasn’t far behind and shared his father’s ambivalence — maybe not about Dow Jones but about returning to News Corp. “I don’t think so,” he said when asked about the perpetually rumored possibility. Also braving the pack was media favorite Haim Saban, most recently tied to taking Univision Communications Inc. private, who true to form promised “a lot of things are going to happen. Lot of things,” repeated the former co-owner of the Fox Family Channel, with Murdoch himself, until those two negotiated with Michael Eisner at this very conference a half-decade ago to sell to the Walt Disney Co. Eisner successor Bob Iger looked more casual than ever, with blue jeans and a blue polo, only to be outdone in the dressed-down category by Universal Studios’ Ron Meyer. The studio chief’s black sweat shorts weren’t set off at all by his commercial-adorned black tee. For real sartorial color, Parsons was the attendee to beat, with a red shirt complemented by a red CNN-logo cap. Given the conference, as well as the number of attendees interested in his all-news cable network, the Time Warner chief had some wondering if his attention-getting outfit was to distinguish himself from afar should dealmakers care to approach him during the confab’s session-free afternoon. And let’s not forget the old-moguls-never-die-but-become-mayors category. Yes, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg reportedly joined the group — through a side entrance — where the smart money had him working the room for a bid quite different than the kind so common to Sun Valley. —Richard Morgan See related post about CNN
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