Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Davos decision-makers

CEOs, government leaders and academics around the world are headed to ski-resort Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting - a power gathering that mixes business, politics and champagne. It is an event that draws a wide range of decision makers, from Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, to the Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou, to U2's Bono. Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev will go ahead with his trip to the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, despite the bomb attack in Moscow. The five-day conference - from Wednesday to Sunday is really about one thing: networking.

A raft of European leaders will try to make their mark on the agenda. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, buoyed by a strong domestic economy, is likely to outline her plans for the eurozone, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy will find it a challenge to follow up his speech last year in Davos - a passionate bashing of bankers and Anglo-Saxon style capitalism. UK Prime Minister David Cameron is also set to come to Davos, accompanied by his deputy Nick Clegg and Chancellor George Osborne. 2,500 global leaders including 30 heads of states will participate. (Rupert Murdoch cancelled his visit in order to personally lead negotiations with the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in an effort to get News Corporation's £8bn buyout of Sky approved)

The question they should be all asking is whether Davos will get it wrong again - as in 2007 and 2008, when all those business leaders and experts failed to spot the imminent financial and economic meltdown.

Just to have the opportunity to be invited to Davos, you must be invited to be a member of the World Economic Forum, a Swiss non-profit group founded by Klaus Schwab, a German-born academic. There are several levels of membership:
The "Basic" , which will get you one invitation to Davos, costs 50,000 Swiss francs, or about $52,000. The ticket itself is another 18,000 Swiss francs, plus tax. But that just gets you in the door at Davos, with entry to the general sessions.
If you want to participate in private sessions, you need to step up to the ''Industry Associate'' level. That costs $137,000, plus the price of the ticket.
''Strategic Partner'', permits an entourage of five and the price tag - $527,000. This year, all strategic partners are required to invite at least one woman along as part of an effort to diversify the attendee list. Nor is the forum accepting new applications to become ''strategic partners'' unless the company is from China or India and must be one of the 250 largest companies in the world.

All those costs, of course, don't include the travel-related costs of getting to Switzerland, schlepping around and perhaps holding a dinner or a cocktail party for clients (the real action).At the Posthotel, the restaurant is charging a minimum of $210 a head. A cocktail party for 60 to 80 people for just one hour? That costs about $8,000.One investor is renting a five-bedroom chalet just outside Davos at $140,000 for the week. A car and driver is $10,000 a week.

From here

2 comments:

Deadbeat said...

Priceless!

aberfoyle said...

Not to worry Bono,will sort them out with his taxation advice and how to avoid.