Sun Valley Media Moguls & Power Players
The Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference is the biggest annual gathering of media moguls.
From television and film to video games and the Internet, industry leaders mark their calendars for this event. They meet and greet, eat and drink, and most importantly, discuss deals.
Disney's acquisition of Cap Cities/ABC, the AOL-Time Warner merger, and Comcast's pending purchase of a controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric (CNBC's parent company) all were hatched, encouraged, or negotiated during secret meetings at Sun Valley.
2010 is no different, as veterans such as John Malone and Jeffrey Katzenberg mix and mingle with newcomers that include Mark Zuckerberg and Dennis Crowley.
Click ahead to see images of some of this year's Sun Valley power players.
By Ed Kosowski
Posted 9 July 2010
Robert Iger
Title: President and CEO, The Walt Disney Co.
Iger succeeded Michael Eisner as Disney's chief executive in 2005. Under his leadership, Disney acquired Pixar in 2006 and Marvel Entertainment in 2009. Recently, Iger has shaken up the management of the company's movie studio and announced plans for a new retail strategy. He is married to journalist and former television anchor Willow Bay.
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Les Moonves
Title: President and CEO, CBS Corporation
Moonves has presided over the CBS television network's ratings success in primetime. Prior to becoming chief executive of CBS, Moonves was co-president and co-chief operating operator at Viacom, until the the company split.
He also held management positions at Lorimar, Warner Brothers, and 20th Century Fox. Moonves is married to CBS television personality and program host Julie Chen.
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Philippe Dauman
Title: President and CEO, Viacom
Dauman became chief executive of Viacom after the company split from CBS. He is a longtime associate of Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone. Dauman partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to launch an educational initiative called Get Schooled.
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Jeff Zucker
Title: President and CEO, NBC Universal
Zucker has spent his entire career at NBC, rising from Olympic researcher to executive producer of The Today Show in just six years. He became chief executive of NBC Universal in 2007, succeeding Bob Wright.
During Zucker's tenure, NBCU has acquired cable networks The Weather Channel (in a partnership with two private equity firms) and Oxygen, and has focused on international expansion and digital content. Comcast is acquiring a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric, pending regulatory approval. (GE is the parent company of CNBC.)
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Ron Meyer
Title: President and COO, Universal Studios
Meyer is the longest-serving chief executive of a major Hollywood film company, having held his position since 1995. Twenty years earlier, along with four fellow agents from the William Morris Agency, Meyer founded Creative Artists Agency, a firm representing actors, directors, and others in the entertainment industry. (Univeral Studios is owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric, CNBC's parent company.)
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Jeffrey Katzenberg
Title: CEO, DreamWorks Animation
Katzenberg is a veteran movie producer and founding partner of DreamWorks SKG, along with Steven Speilberg and David Geffen. He has played a key role in many box office hits, including computer-animated movies Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda. Prior to starting DreamWorks, Katzenberg worked in management positions at Paramount Pictures and Disney's motion picture division. In 2004, DreamWorks Animation was spun off from the DreamWorks movie studio, which was later acquired by Viacom.
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Rupert Murdoch
Title: Founder, Chairman and CEO, News Corporation
Murdoch controls a media empire that includes television networks, local television stations, newspapers and websites. Among them: the Fox broadcast network and Fox News cable channel in the US, Sky Television in the UK, the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and The Times of London. After a hard-fought negotiation, News Corp acquired Dow Jones (publisher of the Wall Street Journal) from the Bancroft family in 2007.
The company also owns MySpace, the once-popular social networking site. Several of Murdoch's children are involved in his business, including sons Lachlan and James. He is married to Wendy Deng, his third wife, whom he wed in 2009.
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John Malone
Title: Chairman, Liberty Media and CEO, Discovery Holding Company
Malone is marking his sixth decade in the communications industry. He is considered a pioneer in the cable and satellite television business and was dubbed "Darth Vader" by Al Gore because of his tough negotiating skills as CEO of TCI. Malone reportedly shuns the media limelight and prefers a low-key lifestyle, even taking his family on vacations in an RV.
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Herb Allen
Title: President and CEO, Allen & Company
Allen is the host of the Sun Valley Conference, which began in 1982. He runs the media-focused investment bank that bears his name, although it was founded by his uncle, Charles Allen. The company helped Google with its initial public offering in 2004 and has been involved in countless other deals and ventures. Like Malone, Allen is known for avoiding publicity.
Barry Kotick
Title: President and CEO, Activision Blizzard
Kotick has been a leader in the videogame industry for many years, becoming chief executive of Activision in 1991 and remaining in the position after its merger with Blizzard in 2008. He has played in a key role in the development and marketing of such popular titles as Guitar Hero and Call of Duty. Prior to joining Activision, Kotick was CEO of Leisure Concepts and founder of International Consumer Technologies.
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Barry Diller
Title: Chairman and CEO, IAC/InterActiveCorp
Diller is a veteran media executive whose decades of experience has influenced the development of the movie and television industries, and, most recently, the online content production and distribution business. Diller was CEO of Paramount Pictures for ten years, during which the studio produced hit TV shows such as Taxi and Cheers, and films such as Saturday Night Fever and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
He later served as CEO of Fox where he oversaw Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox. Diller has also been heavily involved in television shopping channels, including QVC and Home Shopping Network. His current company owns websites including Expedia.com and Ask.com.
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Jim Wiatt
Title: Former CEO and President, William Morris Agency
Wiatt is a longtime power player in the entertainment industry and a fixture in Hollywood, serving as chief executive of William Morris from 1999 until its merger with Endeavor in 2009 (a deal he spearheaded). Wiatt has been instrumental in the careers of many television and movie stars, musicians, and athletes.
He started his career at the Frank Cooper Agency, and moved to International Creative Management (ICM), where he rose to the co-chairman position. After leaving William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Wiatt joined the Board of Directors of AOL.
Charlie Rose,
Title: Television Host, Charlie Rose
Rose's distinguished career in broadcast journalism has included positions both behind and in front of the camera. He is best known for his nightly television interview program Charlie Rose, but during the 1970's he worked as managing editor and executive producer of PBS programs featuring Bill Moyers.
Rose hosted a late-night show in Dallas and was later hired by CBS News to anchor an overnight program called Nightwatch. His current program premiered in 1991 and has been nationally syndicated since 1993.