• The New York Times, Friday, July 13, 2007 11:15 AM

Allen & Company's summit in Sun Valley, Idaho, is the most important big media event of the year -- but the press isn't given much access. Journalists are shut out of the dinners and social gatherings, but there is a press conference. Anything noteworthy takes place out of view.

Even so, the Allen & Company press conference is an opportunity to get in front of Google's Sergey Brin, who spoke with Reuters about Facebook and the Viacom-YouTube suit, among other things. Brin said Google would be happy to speak with Facebook CEO Michael Zuckerberg (who's not attending the summit) about a partnership or takeover, but he didn't seem to think the company was courting bids anymore.

Meanwhile, Microsoft-Facebook takeover rumors were floated around earlier this week. Microsoft already provides ad services for the social network. Max Levchin, CEO of the widget-maker Slide.com, earlier this week said, "I would be amazed if [Microsoft] weren't trying to get their hands on Facebook. The whole platform play is so obvious."

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