As the spectre of deflation looms across Europe, the World Economic Forum is doing its bit to push up prices. Multinational companies have been sent letters asking them to pay 20 per cent more for their annual membership.
Writing to its 120 “strategic partners”, the WEF – whose annual meeting in Davos is a festival of high-level networking – raised annual fees from SFr500,000 ($523,000) to SFr600,000.
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Financial Times, Jim Hagemann Snabe, former co-chief executive of SAP and a member of the WEF’s board, describes plans to “restructure the Strategic Partnership contract” from July next year.