by Shannon Molloy

January 15, 2024

from News Website

The World Economic Forum's annual meeting

kicks off in Davos, a ski resort in Switzerland, this week.

Picture: AFP

The world's elite

gather each year at an event

dubbed the 'Super Bowl of capitalism'...

and it can be a lavish and wild affair.

For a week each January, billionaires, celebrities, politicians and royalty converge on a ski resort in Switzerland to ponder society's problems at an event dubbed the 'Super Bowl of capitalism'.

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), dubbed 'Davos' for the town that hosts it, sees some 3000 attendees pour into hundreds of presentations and panels.

World leaders, Rich Listers and heads of Fortune 500 companies flock to sessions on everything from climate change to global trade and artificial intelligence and this year's theme is "rebuilding trust"...
 

When they're not engaging in what the WEF promises is "constructive, forward-thinking dialogues", the world's elite will let their hair down at soirees not on the official program.

It's here that opportunities to hobnob and network - what many specifically come to Davos for - can get truly wild, with infamous tales of heavy drinking, sex and drugs in previous years.
 

When the sun goes down

Evening parties at Davos are nicknamed 'nightcaps' but many of them are anything but relaxed and peaceful affairs.

Major corporations and billionaire playboys compete to throw the most talked-about shindigs, aiming to draw the who's who of business, politics and show business.

High-priced champagne, rare caviar, lobster flown in from Boston, Michelin star chefs, celebrity guests and star musicians are all on the menu.
 

Lenny Kravitz

was the star attraction at

Salesforce's party in Davos in 2020.
 

Past A-listers to rock up to Davos include,

• George Clooney

• Cate Blanchett

• Matt Damon

• U2 frontman Bono

• Naomi Campbell

• Goldie Hawn,

...to name a few.

In past years, one of the hottest tickets at Davos was an exclusive invite to a jaw-dropping soiree hosted by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska at his sprawling chalet a short drive out of town, co-hosted with the British finance mogul Nat Rothschild.

Here, those lucky enough to attend were greeted with,

"endless streams of the finest champagne, vodka and Russian caviar amid dancing Cossacks and beautiful Russian models", a former assistant to US economist Nouriel Roubini once revealed.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and global sanctions on oligarchs, Mr Deripaska has been absent from Davos.
 

Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska

used to throw one of the most anticipated

sideshows of Davos at his private ski chalet.
 

In 2013, tech mogul Sean Parker - played by Justin Timberlake in the film The Social Network, about the rise of Facebook - famously took over a dive bar in town for a 'taxidermy party'.

Stuffed animal busts on the walls shot laser beams out of their eyes while elaborate cocktails were poured and music megastar John Legend sang.
 

The infamous taxidermy party

featuring stuffed animals

shooting lasers from their eyes.

Picture: Business Insider
 

In 2017, US tech giant Salesforce hired out a five-star hotel and paid actor Idris Elba to DJ while at their 2020 party, rocker Lenny Kravitz was the star attraction.

Some of the world's top companies build special dedicated structures to host themed events, like in 2018 when digital currency operator Hub Culture constructed an igloo-inspired bar on the roof of a local hairdresser.

That same year, Meta hired a chunk of land next to a museum to erect a temporary three-storey building to accommodate its festivities.

Swedish economist Erik Berglof told The Telegraph that Google's much-anticipated annual shindig is "just pure partying".

One year, the tech giant offered guests blasts of flavored oxygen as a novelty party gift.
 

Celebrities also flock to Davos,

either as delegates or as paid entertainment.
 

An eyebrow-raising event last was the one thrown by a psychedelics company that saw guests micro-dose magic mushrooms while listening to a talk by New Age guru Deepak Chopra.

When not living it up, some attendees retreat to their high-priced hotel rooms to enjoy hospitality of a different kind.

It's been reported that sex workers also descend on Davos each January, where their services are priced at up to US$2500 (AU$3738) per night.

And insiders have told tabloids that recreational substances are readily found throughout the week.
 

US President Donald Trump

was at Davos in 2020.

Picture: AFP

'A drunken mess'

Skybridge Capital chairman Anthony Scaramucci, who famously worked for President Donald Trump for just 11 days, goes to Davos most years.

"If you look up name-dropping in the dictionary you'll see a photo of Davos," he told The New York Post.

Mr Scaramucci holds what he described as a "wine soiree" at the ritzy Hotel Europe where thousand-dollar bottles of plonk flow freely.

Previous guests have included Virgin founder Richard Branson, current First Lady Jill Biden, and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

In 2011, financial journalist Felix Salmon described the event as a "drunken mess" and last year enthusiastic guests had drunk it completely dry by 11pm.
 

Cate Blanchett attends the annual

World Economic Forum in 2018.

Picture: AFP
 

Elton John at Davos in 2018.

Picture: AFP

Several thousand security personnel, including members of the Swiss military, swarm the usually peaceful alpine town to keep the long list of important delegates safe.

But even some of those entrusted with protection can't resist the temptations of Davos after dark.

In 2016, five soldiers deployed to the event were sent home when they tested positive for cocaine, while another seven were reprimanded for smoking cannabis.

"All 12 soldiers consumed cannabis and five of them additionally consumed cocaine," a spokesperson for the Swiss Army said at the time.

"These five were immediately sent home. The others are receiving disciplinary punishment during their duty."

This year's agenda

Some of the big names attending Davos 2024 include,

• US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin

• French President Emmanuel Macron

• Chinese Premier Li Qiang

• United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres,

...and even Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky...

"The annual meeting will convene leaders from government, business, and civil society to address the state of the world and discuss priorities for the year ahead," the WEF says.

"The world today is at a critical inflection point.

 

The sheer number of ongoing crises calls for bold collective action."
 

King Charles

and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg

at Davos in 2020.

Picture: AFP

Each attendee wears a badge displaying their name - and its color denotes how powerful they are.

All-access passes are white and carry a special hologram and are highly coveted. Green tags are worn by the entourages that accompany those with white ones.

Journalists and lowly assistants don orange passes, and their movements are heavily restricted, as one would expect.

The complicated badge system

is a way of knowing not just who someone is

but whether they are worth talking to.

The Reuters news agency compiled a light-hearted

- but well-informed — guide to them.

@AndrewLawton/X

Source

"You can almost smell the magic of the place when you're there," a well-connected regular told The New York Post.

"Everyone's got an agenda and you never know who you're going to run into when you come out of the rest room. 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..."

Davos attracts world leaders,

the who's who of business, billionaires,

celebrities and royalty.

Picture: AFP

Dark side of Davos

About 80 per cent of attendees at Davos are male.

In investigation by British newspaper The Times in 2020 revealed countless claims of harassment by women who had been in previous years.

Behavior by some was "so predatory" that women are often warned not to attend evening events alone, it reported.

The famed economist Nouriel Roubini told The New York Times that a boom in brash tech start-ups and firms involved in cryptocurrency had given proceedings a seedy feel in recent years.

"Crypto crooks, conmen, criminals, and carnival barkers [were] clogging the Promenade and hosting $500,000 champagned parties," he told the newspaper.
 

Some previous attendees

have spoken about the 'dark side' of Davos.

Picture: Bloomberg

Another regular who spoke to The New York Post noted:

"There's always been a slight dark side to Davos. You know what they say about world leaders and top CEOs being psychopaths."

But perhaps the most shocking part of Davos, according to the journalist and commentator Hamilton Nolan, is that those attending think they're making a difference.

"Will the world's most cutthroat plutocrats and cold-blooded status-seekers stop trying to convince us they have a heart of gold?" Nolan wrote for The Guardian last year.
 

Davos often attracts protesters

who view the event as being hypocritical.

Picture: AFP

"Each year, the world's masters of politics and finance ride carbon-spewing jets to a lavish Swiss resort town bristling with armed guards, where they opine sombrely about 'solving poverty' and 'climate change'.

"The event serves primarily as a rare point of unity for political right and left wings, both of whom agree that everyone there should be in jail."