What big news will come from Idaho confab?

Don Day July 11th, 2007

Each July, a large collection of the world’s media-connected billionaires gathers in Sun Valley, ID. The Allen & Co. conference marks its 25th year bringing together big names - this year Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Richard Parsons, Robert Iger, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Warren Buffett, Jerry Yang, Leslie Moonves, Jeff Zucker, Sumner Redstone, Janus Friis (of Joost) and others are on the guest list.

The conference always makes news: Disney/ABC grew from the meetings, as did AOL/Time Warner and YouTube/Google.

Today, a reporter asked Murdoch if he would abandon the bid for Dow Jones - “You never know,” he said (via Reuters). Later, he told the AP “They keep changing their minds,” referring to the Bancroft family. Also rumors have been swirling that Murdoch may be looking at some sort of deal involving News Corp.’s MySpace and Yahoo, and now all the relevant players are in close proximity.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is tabbed to speak Friday, according to Fortune - and he could grab a seat on News Corp.’s board.

Other biggies: Will Facebook get picked up? Plus, what will Joost and Slingbox do?