invested their own funds in the deals it organized. This unusual approach turned the company from a "servant" of clients (the elite of Hollywood and the media world) into their partner. Therefore, when Allen organized this or that event, his guests felt proud to receive an invitation. They didn't feel like they were being held hostage by an obsessive salesperson. For each annual event, Allen & Co developed a detailed agenda that linked to each guest's network of contacts (which the firm knew fairly well) and included introducing each guest to new people Allen thought they deserved. According to the unspoken rules of the hierarchy, the houses in which the conference participants stayed were at one distance or another from the hotel (where the main meetings took place). For each guest, not only a list of official lunches and dinners was developed, to which he was invited, but it was also indicated at which table he would sit.
Buffett's friend Tom Murphy called such events "an elephant herd crowd." “Every time the big players get together,” says Buffett, “it's not a problem to invite them to this or that event. If they are allowed to participate in the “crushing of the herd of elephants”, this means that each of them is considered an elephant.
Sun Valley has its own reputation, because unlike many other similar events, the right to attend these conferences cannot be bought. As a result, among the elite there is a kind of "artificial democracy". It is always interesting for the participants of the event to follow which of the newcomers was invited this time. It is no less interesting to analyze which of the previous guests was denied an invitation. When people are in their usual "de7juvy" framework, they often fail to establish new contacts. Allen 8c Co, realizing this, contributed to the establishment of friendly relations with the help of entertainment programs that began from the very first evening. Arriving and resting guests donned Western clothing, climbed into old-fashioned horse-drawn carts, and followed a group of cowboys down the winding, rocky road into the high valley of Trail Cabin Creek. There Herbert, or one of his sons, greeted the assembly just as the sun began to set. The cowboys entertained the children with a variety of lasso tricks near a large white tent adorned with scarlet petunias and blue sage. The Sun Valley old guard reunited and welcomed new guests as they lined up for the steak and salmon buffet, plates in hand. The Buffetts usually ended their first night by sitting around a campfire with friends under a star-studded sky.
The entertainment continued on Wednesday afternoon, when guests were invited to go boating on the quiet Salmon River. During this event, old ties were strengthened and new contacts were made. Employees of Allen & Co carefully controlled both the boarding of buses heading to the starting point of the rafting, and the rafting itself. The pilots silently led the boats along the river, which flowed through the valley, without interrupting the business communication or friendly chatter of the passengers. Rescuers from among the local residents and ambulances stood ready in case someone accidentally fell into the cold water. As soon as the guests put aside the oars and got out of the boats, they were immediately handed warm towels, followed by barbecue plates.
Those who were not interested in rafting could fly fish, ride horses, shoot skeet, ride a mountain bike, learn to knit or photograph landscapes, play bridge or throw a frisbee, go ice skating on an indoor ice rink, relax in the pool, play tennis on the perfect clay courts, or play golf on the gorgeous greens that electric cars drove around (in their luggage compartment you could find umbrellas to protect yourself from the sun, and snacks, and even insect repellant)5. Entertained without much noise and without the slightest tension. Everything that guests needed was instantly in front of their eyes thanks to the efforts of Allen's inconspicuous but constantly nearby employees, dressed in polo shirts with the SV'99 logo.
Among them was a group of teenagers, mostly blond, strong build, dressed in the same polo shirts and had backpacks with the Allen & Co logo on their backs. It was Herbert Allen's "secret weapon". While the parents and grandparents were having fun, the teens made sure that every little Joshua and little Brittany had a playmate with whom they could do a lot of interesting things - learn to play tennis or football, ride a bike and electric railway, look at scientific horses, go skating or boating, fish, draw, or even just eat pizza and ice cream. The goal of the teen nannies was to create such a pleasant atmosphere for the child that he would then year after year beg his parents to go to this place again. The parents themselves were very pleased to watch how a pretty teenager takes care of everything and allows them to have a great time in the company of other adults without remorse.
Buffett liked the way Allen organized such events. He loved Sun Valley as a great place for a family vacation - if he had to be in a mountain resort alone with his grandchildren, he would be confused and did not know what to do. He disliked outdoor activities, with the exception of golf. He never went hunting, never rode a mountain bike, considered the water "a kind of prison" and even under the threat of arrest would not agree to raft down the river. On the contrary, Buffett felt completely comfortable being in the very center of the “elephant crowd”. Sometimes he played golf or bridge, and his golf partner was always Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (usually the stakes in their fights did not exceed one dollar), and in bridge -
Meredith Brokaw. He also spent time hanging out with people like Playboy CEO Christy Hefner or Michael Dell.
However, often Warren Buffett simply shut himself up in his house—reading the papers, watching business news on TV in the living room, sitting by the unrealistic fireplace. He hardly paid attention to the beauty of the pine forests on Mount Baldi, the view of which opened directly from his window, or the flower meadows, reminiscent of their coloring of a magnificent Persian carpet - to pastel lupins, sapphire delphiniums rising above poppies, sage and speedwell, which found its place among the hare cabbage and beard. “I’m sure there’s a beautiful view outside my window,” Buffett sometimes said. In fact, he was attracted here by the atmosphere created by the efforts of Herb Allen6. He enjoyed being around his closest friends: publisher Kay Graham and her son Don; Bill and Melinda Gates; Mickey and Don Q; Barry Dealer and Diane von Furstenberg; Andy Grove and his wife Eve.
But most importantly for Buffett, Sun Valley brought his whole family together, a rare moment when they could spend time together. "He likes it when we're all under the same roof," says his daughter Susie Buffett Jr. She herself lived in Omaha; her younger brother Howie and his wife Devon (they did not come this year) - in Dikeytura; the other younger brother, Peter, and his wife, Jennifer, are in Milwaukee. Buffett's wife Susan, 47, who lives separately from her husband, flew in from her San Francisco home to meet the family. And Astrid Menks, Warren's girlfriend for twenty years, stayed at home in Omaha.
On a Friday night, Warren donned a Hawaiian shirt and went with his wife to the traditional poolside meeting near their home. Most of the guests were familiar with Susie and sympathized with her. She was a constant star of these parties - her signature number was old-fashioned hits, which she sang in the light of torches in front of the illuminated Olympic pool.
In 1999, previously unknown words from Newspeak were woven into the usual noise of friendly communication over cocktails and the sounds of an orchestra: B2B, B2C, “banner advertising”, “broadband”. Throughout the week, a strange sense of restlessness permeated lunches, dinners, and cocktails, a kind of silent fog covering handshakes, kisses, and hugs. Rookies - newly minted heads of technology companies - introduced themselves people who a year ago had no idea of ​​their existence5. Some acted very arrogantly, and this went against the usual informal atmosphere of Sun Valley, where Herbert Allen introduced an unspoken rule: excessive pomp is punishable by exile.
This arrogance was especially noticeable during the presentations held in the central conference room of the hotel. Heads of companies, high-ranking government officials, other serious and responsible people spoke words that they would hardly have dared to utter anywhere else, because they were sure that none of the words they said would go beyond the doors of the conference room. Reporters were strictly forbidden to enter here, and leading journalists and heads of media empires (owners of television networks and newspapers), although they were allowed into the hall, kept complete silence. Therefore, all the speakers who addressed their peers said the right and important things that would never have become known to the press, since these words were too frank and frightening. Journalists crowded outside, hoping to grab any "bone" that the participants saw fit to throw at them.
This year, the new pompous tycoons of the Internet age pompously boasted about their acquired companies and tried to raise funds from the “moneybags” in the hall: money managers who managed the pension and savings funds of many private savers and who together owned assets worth a fantastic amount of more than a trillion dollars.. A trillion dollars in