Inside the Networking Frenzy at This Year’s Milken Global Conference

At the Milken Global Conference, the talk is about saving the world, but the real action still revolves around raising money.

Between panels on policy, guided meditations, and celebrity sightings, thousands of suited financiers descend on Beverly Hills every Spring for what remains, at its core, one of the most lucrative networking events in finance.

Milken Institute CEO Richard Ditizio’s opening speech highlighted wealth inequality and how a “deficit of hope” among young people has resulted in “bets on the fates of US servicemen shot down in Iran.”

The program included panels about niche financial topics and AI, but also about politics, policy, and meditations with a sound bath. Puppies were once again running around in an outdoor pavilion for stress relief. Celebrities such as Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, and Wyclef Jean roamed the hallways.

Yet many of the 5,000 attendees of this year’s conference were uniform in appearance and title. It was a sea of blue-suited finance pros, in town to network, fundraise, and eat boxed lunches of cold chicken and tomato chutney.

The conference’s opening panel, featuring Blackstone’s Jon Gray and Apollo’s James Zelter, drew a line of graying New Yorkers vying for a good seat. And despite Ditizio’s comment on the ills of prediction markets, a Kalshi board member spoke on a panel just hours later about “the future of decision intelligence.”

Of course, the event has always been centered on finance. Michael Milken made his name and his fortune in the industry decades ago, and Wall Street elites never miss the annual pilgrimage to Beverly Hills to speak, such as Eldridge Industries’ Todd Boehly, Third Point’s Daniel Loeb, and Bridgewater’s Karen Karniol-Tambour.

But what has made the event worth flying around the world for — there were attendees from nearly 100 countries this year, Ditizio said — has been the ability to rub shoulders with the world’s biggest investment officers and hit them up for cash.

“This is the biggest aggregation of allocators in the world,” said Steve Brotman, managing partner and founder of Alpha Partners. “Any jackass can be a venture capitalist. The difference between a jackass and a VC is that one raises money, so raising money is how you become a VC.”

The biggest money managers, mostly pension and endowment funds, have traditionally invested only a tiny slice of their billions in venture capital, but Brotman says that is beginning to change as managers see the soaring valuations of Anthropic and Anduril.

“If you’re an investor and you’re not in private tech, you’re dust,” he said. “We’re in an AI super cycle.”

Despite nearly every conversation touching on artificial intelligence in some way — and the industry’s biggest financial partners singing the tech’s praise on stage — there was a notable lack of attendance by AI’s biggest names and companies, despite the conference’s slogan: “Leading in a new era.”

For one non-profit executive, the conference’s continued price increases for attendance and speaking slots — which have soared to upwards of $75,000 for a ticket — have pushed away industries that don’t see the immediate value add. There are also tiers of access and exclusive lounges, depending on whether you want the business-class or economy experience. Want a speaking slot? That will cost you dearly. The non-profit exec said they expect this year’s conference to be their last as an attendee.

“If you don’t need to fundraise, then why spend the money?” this person said. (The Milken Institute is also a nonprofit, and the Global Conference helps support its charitable activities.)

One limited partner who invests in VC funds skipped the event to save money and went to the rooftop of the Waldorf to take meetings until he was told there was a $100 minimum for lunch. Instead, he went to the bar and ordered tea to nurse his voice, hoarse from attending so many of the Milken parties.

Just like Davos, much of the real action happens at the hillside mansions in Bel Air and restaurants in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, where firms like Blue Owl and Apollo host elaborate parties and dinners. One “VVIP” suaree that lasted until 2 am Wednesday morning promised “an intimate evening with investors and founders shaping the future of humanity” in a private estate once owned by Rihanna.

Unlike the conference, admission was free.