Media and Tech Confer in Sun Valley

Investment bank Allen & Co.'s exclusive annual media conference begins July 6 with moguls swooping into Sun Valley, Idaho, for several days of panels, clandestine meetings and bike rides.

And, as has been the trend in recent years, Allen & Co. gatekeepers have invited a number of technology entrepreneurs and executives in addition to the traditional coterie of film, television and publishing chiefs. This year's attendee list includes Facebook Inc.'s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who is attending for the first time. Mark Pincus, chief executive of online gaming giant Zynga Game Network Inc., will be there, along with some lesser-known tech insiders, such as Gina Bianchini, former CEO of social-networking start-up Ning. The newer arrivals will share the spotlight with the conference's usual stable of media titans, some of whom have been attending for decades. They include Walt Disney Co. chief Bob Iger, Viacom Inc. CEO Phillippe Dauman, News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, and Barry Diller, chief executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp. A few hundred executives and family members attend a schedule of sessions, meals and drinks. But don't expect too much mingling between the groups. One thing that often goes unsaid about the conference is that it is really two parallel ones, say several long-time attendees.

While the tech and media businesses continue to converge, their social circles don't.