Forget the fondue.
Caviar, magic mushrooms, gold-leaf desserts, A-list selfies, $2,500-per-night hookers and secret dinners are likely to be on the menu as scores of private jets touch down in Switzerland as soon as Sunday to bring the world’s elite to the small Alpine resort town of Davos for what’s officially known as The World Economic Forum 2024.
More than 3000 masters of the universe are expected to show up for the 54th annual event at the Alpine resort nestled in the snowy Landwasser valley. The theme this year is “Rebuilding Trust.”
“You can almost smell the magic of the place when you’re there,” a well-connected Davos regular told The Post.
“Everyone’s got an agenda and you never know who you’re going to run into when you come out of the restroom. It could be Bill Gates.
“You’re around some of the smartest people in the world but one thing you learn is that they’re not always so smart.”
WEF head Klaus Schwab, while portrayed as a real life Dr. Evil in far-right circles, is probably more of a high-rent PT Barnum than sinister global conspiracist.
Last year Vanity Fair pointed out that Schwab “developed the Forum from an earnest meeting of policy wonks into a glittering assembly of the world’s richest people. He has achieved this by ingratiating himself with those who wield power, and especially the billionaire class — a tribe known as Davos Man.”
Not all Davos Men — or women — are created equal though: there’s a caste system that separates the merely connected from the apex of the elite.
Everyone has to wear a colored badge with their full name on it at all times, and the color is an instant way of judging their importance. (The real flex — being so famous you hide the badge.)
White badges are the most expensive accreditation, but also available only to the very top tier business leaders.
Being a CEO is not enough: your company must be a household name, or at least a household name in the biggest boardrooms.
“If you look up namedropping in the dictionary you’ll see a photo of Davos,” Skybridge Capital founder and chairman Anthony Scaramucci, who’s attended Davos since 2007, told The Post.
Being a CEO is not enough: your company must be a household name, or at least a household name in the biggest boardrooms.
“But you know what? I’ve never left the mountain without learning something important or making a new friend.”
Other more lowly badges, in a rainbow of colors, are given to the white badgeholders’ entourages; to less important CEOs and non-profit bosses; to the media; to WEF staff; and to the legions of staff who cater to their needs.
Political heavyweights like Chinese Premier Li Qiang; French president Emmanuel Macron; Secretary of State Antony Blinken; National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan; and Pres. Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry will be jostling for invitations to the best cocktail parties along this year.
So too will OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy; newly-elected Argentinian president Javier Milei; supermodel Naomi Campbell; the World Health Organization’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization; and Tirana Hassan of Human Rights Watch.
Though past and present Davos attendees like to talk about the enriching “policy discussions” at the snowy conference, the real A-listers vie for the best discreet cocktail parties and private dinners with top CEOs — then hit the dance floor with Salesforce CEO. Marc Benioff.
Angling to get into the hottest CEO dinners is an annual ritual, but for private dinner organizers, the headache is getting the hottest corporate guests, who this year will be JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Altman, to attend.
The badges help set the scene for the evening.