Fomo is pervasive at Davos — there’s always a more exclusive party or powwow. But as the so-called global elite descended on the Swiss mountain resort on Monday for the World Economic Forum, the overwhelming feeling was that the real action was far away in Washington.
Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon, Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi and investment banker Ken Moelis were among those who attended events in the US capital to mark the inauguration of Donald Trump and then hotfooted it to Switzerland.
This year’s theme at Davos — the annual jamboree where world leaders hobnob with corporate titans and a smattering of celebrities, and an elite badge costs SFr27,000 ($30,000) — was nominally “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age”. But the talk of the town was Trump, tariffs and what one senior US banker called “peak pessimism” on Europe.