In bid for Davos-like gathering, Semafor plans to bring at least 200 CEOs to Washington conference Boston 25 News [Video]

NEW YORK — (AP) — The media company Semafor is planning a Washington economic conference for global CEOs this April that it hopes will rival the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, for influence.

Semafor said Wednesday that more than 200 CEOs have already committed to attend the event, now in its third year, representing an explosion of interest it credits in large part to curiosity about the policies of President Donald Trump.

“It is really turning into what will be the closest thing to what Davos has accomplished in Switzerland,” said Justin B. Smith, co-founder and CEO of Semafor. The conference is scheduled for April 23-25.

The event illustrates the growing importance of special events for media companies, a focus of Semafor’s leaders since the company started earlier this decade.

A similar Washington conference two years ago brought together about 50 CEOs, and leadership attendance expanded to about 75 in 2024. While that growth showed interest in monitoring regulatory …