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Allen & Co., one of the best-known dealmakers on Wall Street, appears to be going through an evolutionary change, if the invitation list to its upcoming mogulfest is any indication.
The list, just released to attendees, reveals that one of the biggest tech deal makers this year, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, will not be in attendance — despite recently spending $1.1 billion on Tumblr.
Also, Yahoo! backer and activist investor Daniel Loeb won’t be at the Sun Valley, Idaho, gathering that kicks off July 9 after he targeted Japanese giant Sony for a break-up.
Sure, activist investors don’t make for good guests at mogul camp, said a source familiar with who makes the cut, noting that Dish CEO Charlie Ergen is not invited either. But a larger sea change is happening.
Allen & Co. is much more focused on its digital practice — finding and investing in the next Facebook, sources say — than in traditional dealmaking.
The New York investment firm ranks 83rd in terms of M&A activity through June 24 with deal value at $2.1 billion, according to data from ThomsonReuters.
Goldman Sachs tops the list, helping transact $227 billion in deals — and even smaller shops, such as Moelis and Evercore, have done better on the ThomsonReuters M&A scoreboard than Allen & Co.
Allen & Co.’s 40-something CEO Herb Allen III, who took over from his father a few years ago, has been focusing more of his time in Silicon Valley.
A hotter ticket than Sun Valley may well be the March Allen & Co. digital get-together in Arizona.
Allen & Co. declined to comment.
“Herb [Allen, Jr.] has been investing in a lot of companies and has huge relationships with all the VCs,” said one frequent mogulfest attendee, who goes to the Arizona conference, as well.
“Sun Valley is much less deal focused,” this person said. “It’s more about maintaining the old line relationships of Herb Sr.”