Business

Moguls kept their distance at Sun Valley

SUN VALLEY, Idaho — The already exclusive meeting of the moguls was more out of reach than ever this year — prompting some journalists to question whether it’s even worth covering anymore.

The event, which attracts media and tech moguls such as Apple’s Tim Cook and IAC’s Barry Diller, likes to keep non-conference resort guests — reporters — away from the billionaires as they mingle and frolic.

But the sponsors of the event, investment bank Allen & Co., took security to a whole new level this year, including closing down the entire lobby of the Sun Valley Lodge to non-conference guests during Wednesday night’s fancy dinner for attendees around the skating rink.

Allen & Co. didn’t want the titans to be bothered by introductions and questions as they walked from the outdoor dining area behind the lodge to the bathrooms in the lobby, a source told The Post.

Google also broke with tradition this year by canceling its annual press conference by the Sun Valley Inn — an event journalists could formerly count upon to generate news.

“Too busy for today,” Google Chairman Eric Schmidt told The Post when asked about the presser, which is always held on a Thursday.

The Post asked whether it might be held Friday, to which Schmidt replied “no” without breaking his stride.

Allen & Co. reopened the lobby to non-conference guests on Thursday night, and reporters gathered there as moguls mingled in the nearby Duchin bar. But unlike in years past, the resort banned booze for anyone without a conference badge.

At one point, David Goldberg, CEO of data company SurveyMonkey (aka Sheryl Sandberg’s husband), took pity on a sad-sack group of reporters hanging out in the lobby and offered to order cocktails for them, which he then delivered himself.