The mood might be somewhat subdued this year. The NASDAQ Composite Index has tumbled by about 50 percent since the middle of last July, hammering the stocks of most of the Internet entrepreneurs who attend the conference.
And the world's biggest media companies similarly are dug in for a siege. They have announced firings of more than 6,400 people this year and shut unprofitable businesses.
Still, next week will be a busy one at this small town in the shadows of the Sawtooth Mountains. Managers at the airport at Hailey, Idaho, about a dozen miles from Sun Valley, expect as many as 100 private Gulfstream and Falcon jets. Rental-car companies are bringing up extra cars from Salt Lake City to handle the crush.
One media mogul will miss the event, though: Ted Turner, vice chairman of AOL Time Warner.
"I stopped going a couple of years back, and they stopped inviting me," he said.
"I guess I made it known that I found it too boring hanging around all those people."
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