Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Aug 04, 2025

Davos is dead

Davos is dead

The world’s most elite conference is postponed, again.
Hold the caviar and put the mink back in the closet.

Davos is dead, again. The glitzy and eagerly awaited World Economic Forum annual meeting scheduled for the Swiss mountain resort on Jan. 17-21 has been shelved for the second year in a row, replaced by a series of online discussions.

The postponement — due to Omicron’s emergence — is the latest in a series of failed efforts by WEF to return to in-person meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic, and puts financial pressure on the organization, with tens of millions of dollars of event income at risk.

In 2020, WEF’s Davos conference attracted more than 100 billionaires and 53 heads of state or government. Companies — still mostly from the U.S. and Europe — pay around $50,000 per person for a coveted “white badge” to access this guest list.

WEF’s event fee income dropped from around $45 million in 2020 to zero in 2021. Membership and partnership fees range from $65,000 to $650,000, “depending on the level of engagement,” per WEF.

Membership fee income was down $7.5 million in 2021, with companies such as BT, a European telecoms giant, cutting ties. “We took the decision to end our partnership with the WEF earlier this year,” Richard Farnsworth, a BT spokesperson, told POLITICO.

Local businesses in Davos — Europe’s highest altitude town — depend heavily on the influx of rich visitors each January. While each company is allowed only five white badge holders, entourages of lower-level executives, assistants, drivers and chefs can number more than 100 for the largest companies attending.

Shops and bars are turned into elaborate pavilions and exhibition spaces, while the going rate for a bunk bed in an apartment is close to $1,000 per night. Don’t ask about the chalet prices.

Organizers are hoping to shift the 2022 Davos conference to summer 2022, but a similar plan to move the event to a literal island of Covid safety fell flat in 2021.

Klaus Schwab, WEF’s executive chair, announced with fanfare in December 2020 that the winter Davos conference would move to Singapore in May 2021 as a way to escape the pandemic. That plan was then delayed until August 2021 and eventually canceled altogether after a local surge in Covid-19 cases.

Amanda Russo, a WEF spokesperson, downplayed the impact of postponing the 2022 conference. “The annual meeting is just one touch point alongside the day-to-day work of our nearly 20 platforms. Our partners sign on as members to work year-round,” Russo told POLITICO.

Following the emergence of the Omicron variant in November, WEF successfully scrambled to pause — until the week after the scheduled January event — a new Swiss rule requiring 10-day quarantine for foreign visitors that would have upended the Davos conference.

Hundreds of executives parachute into the Swiss mountain resort each year for the conference, many of them on private jets, and some of them for as little as 24 hours: a schedule incompatible with quarantining.

Does Cristal make a sound if only 100 people hear it popping?

Even with a pause on quarantine rules, Davos event planners had been flummoxed in recent weeks by a series of changing local restrictions, including severe limits on the number of attendees at private events, and concerns that the event would eventually be canceled.

Davos stalwarts including the Wall Street Journal and CNBC called off plans for their regular pavilions and lounge spaces. Companies such as JPMorgan meanwhile wondered whether to go ahead with their evening receptions at cavernous local art galleries, if those spaces had to remain nearly empty to comply with Covid rules.

WEF sought to reassure its stakeholders via email and its exclusive Toplink social platform in early December that the event would proceed. Even so, regular Davos attendees remained skeptical that the event could proceed as planned.

“As a crisis manager, we had doomsday scenario planning in our recommendation to clients anyway,” said one consultant at a Washington lobbying and public affairs firm. “You simply have to do that in 2022, or ‘2020: Part Three’ as I am calling it.”

WEF remains upbeat, for now.

“The deferral of the annual meeting will not prevent progress through continued digital convening of leaders from business, government and civil society,” Schwab said.

While some aspects of WEF’s work continue to expand — such as a Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics program that has grown to include more than 100 companies — the next challenge for WEF is more practical: dealing with badge-holders requesting refunds on their tickets.

Davos badges are "100 percent refundable until the start of the meeting," per a WEF document obtained by POLITICO. But CEOs' expense reports might be stuck eating the hotel suites and unopened cases of Cristal.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
UK's Online Safety Law: A Front for Censorship
Nationwide Protests Erupt in Brazil Demanding Presidential Resignation
Parents Abandon Child at Barcelona Airport Over Passport Issue
Mystery Surrounds Death of Brazilian Woman with iPhones Glued to Her Body
Bus Driver Discovers Toddler Hidden in Suitcase in New Zealand
Switzerland Celebrates 734 Years of Independence Amid Global Changes
U.S. Opens Official Investigation into Former Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith
Leaked audio of Canada's new PM Mark Carney admitting the truth about the Net Zero agenda: "We're gonna make a lot of money off of this."
China Enforces Comprehensive Ban on Cryptocurrency Activities
Absolutely 100% Realistic EVO Series Doll by EXDOLL (Chinese Company) used mainly for carnal purposes
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab: "In this new world, we must accept... total transparency. You have to get used to it. You have to behave accordingly. But if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be afraid."
Meet Mufti Hamid Patel, head of Office for Standards in Education in Pakistan
George Soros tells the World Economic Forum: "President Trump is a con man and the ultimate narcissist, who wants the world to revolve around him."
Hamas are STARVING the hostages.
Decline in Tourism in Majorca Amidst Ongoing Anti-Tourism Protests
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
Poland Begins Excavation at Dziemiany After New Clue to World War II‑Era Nazi Treasure
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Threatens Canada with Tariffs Over Palestinian State Recognition
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Trump Sues Murdoch in “Heavyweight Bout”: Lawsuit Over Alleged Epstein Letter Sets Stage for Courtroom Showdown
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
Trump Administration Finalizes Broad Tariff Increases on Global Trade Partners
J.K. Rowling Limits Public Engagements Citing Safety Fears
JD.com Launches €2.2 Billion Bid for German Electronics Retailer Ceconomy
Azerbaijan Proceeds with Plan to Legalise Casinos on Artificial Islands
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
×