Davos Bonus: "Deaths at Davos" with Thierry Mallaret

Summary

In the City (Bloomberg): Davos Bonus – “Deaths at Davos” with Thierry Maleret

Date: January 26, 2025
Host: David Merritt
Guest: Thierry Maleret, Economist & Author

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Overview

This bonus episode takes listeners into the heart of Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum (WEF). Host David Merritt interviews Thierry Maleret, a former WEF insider and co-author of "COVID-19: The Great Reset," to dissect the evolution of the WEF, the realities behind its annual meeting, and Maleret’s new satirical thriller series, “Deaths at Davos.” The conversation oscillates between the forum’s shifting mission, the realities of elite networking, and how fiction can reveal truths that non-fiction cannot.

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Main Themes and Discussion Points

1. Thierry Maleret’s Background and WEF Involvement

[03:34-04:31]

• Maleret worked at the World Economic Forum (WEF) from 2000 to 2007, first organizing the Davos event, then creating the influential Global Risk Network.
• Maintains a close relationship with Klaus Schwab, WEF’s founder, and has co-authored several books with him.

Notable Quote:

“So I was an employee of the World Economic Forum from 2000 to 2007... I created the Global Risk Network...”
— Thierry Maleret [04:04]

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2. The Role and Evolution of Klaus Schwab

[04:31-05:29]

• Schwab is described as the “creature” and still the spirit of the WEF, maintaining authority as chairman of the Foundation Board at age 86.

Notable Quote:

“He’s absolutely vital to the gathering. I think this is the 55th edition... He’s still in charge.”
— Thierry Maleret [04:49]

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3. The WEF’s Transformation: Idealism to Platform for Power

[05:29-07:07]

• Once driven by the motto “committed to improving the state of the world,” WEF has shifted to serving as the “mother of all platforms” where business and political elites meet to do deals.
• Attendees see their investment in Davos justified by strategic networking opportunities rather than by altruistic motives.

Notable Quotes:

“The World Economic Forum... has become the mother of all platforms. Everybody comes because that’s the place where you do business.”
— Thierry Maleret [06:04]
“Improving the state of the world has become irrelevant.”
— Thierry Maleret [06:47]

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4. The Economics and Social Stratification of Davos

[07:07-10:15]

• Extreme costs associated with attending are tolerated because of perceived high returns on investment for companies and politicians alike.
• Private dinners and events—some numbering into the thousands—rather than official sessions, are where real power-brokering happens.

Notable Quotes:

“Everything, as you said, is obscenely expensive... and yet people come. Why? Because they generate a good return.”
— Thierry Maleret [07:32]
“When I was in charge of Davos 20 years ago, I think there were about 1,000 private events... today... between 2, 3 and 5,000.”
— Thierry Maleret [08:18]

• Badge System:
  • Social hierarchy is visible via badge colors—white badges mark the top 0.1% (CEOs, top politicos), orange badges are for media, and others include various support personnel.
  • Maleret, as an insider, attends events without needing a badge.

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5. Deaths at Davos: Fiction as Exposé

[10:20-13:53]

• Maleret’s fictional “Deaths at Davos” series is set at a thinly-veiled version of the WEF (called "the Circle"), using thriller conventions to expose the unseen realities and undercurrents of power, espionage, and clandestine social behaviors at Davos.
• Behind the scenes: gatherings, sex parties, intelligence agency interest, and high-stakes geopolitical conversation, particularly focusing on US-Russia dynamics.

Notable Quotes:

“The idea is to explore in a thriller... what’s happening behind the scenes of Davos. And there is a lot happening... the sex parties, for example. And I describe one of them in the book.”
— Thierry Maleret [11:08]
“When you write fiction, you are bound by nothing except the power of your own imagination... instead of writing an essay... a thriller opens many, many doors that you wouldn’t be able to explore otherwise.”
— Thierry Maleret [11:49]
“There is such a huge concentration of power in Davos... how enticing this may be for intelligence services. And this is what this book explores.”
— Thierry Maleret [12:08]

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6. Reality and Resonance: Davos’ Underbelly and Global Impact

[13:58-16:21]

• Fiction is “grounded in reality,” with the underbelly of Davos reflecting real-world consequences for non-elites.
• There is a heightened sense of tension and anxiety among European leaders about the future amid political shifts, especially regarding the US and Trump’s expected policies.

Notable Quotes:

“There are serious implications for the conversations that are happening here that affect the non 1% of people.”
— David Merritt [14:00]
“There is what everybody sees... and then there is what’s happening in the underbelly, which is probably even more significant.”
— Thierry Maleret [14:26]
“Europe is very fearful about the future... geopolitically, economically, financially, Europe is going to be increasingly vulnerable in the years to come.”
— Thierry Maleret [15:28]

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7. The Unexpected Pace of Global Change

[16:21-17:22]

• The episode closes with a reflection on how much has changed since the previous year’s Davos, with European vulnerabilities, fast-moving geopolitical events, and shifting power structures in focus.
• Maleret hints at continuing the “Deaths at Davos” series to reflect ongoing developments.

Notable Quotes:

“Everything that’s happening this week was unimaginable last year at Davos.”
— Thierry Maleret [16:58]
“Are we going to have a 3.0? Absolutely... Fantastic opportunity, right?”
— Thierry Maleret [17:26]

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Memorable Moments & Timestamps

• [06:04-06:47]: Maleret bluntly calls WEF's mission “to improve the state of the world” outdated, stating it’s now about “improving the P and L.”
• [08:18]: Scaling up of private, off-the-record events at Davos over two decades.
• [11:08-11:46]: Maleret acknowledges the existence of sex parties, secrecy, and intelligence intrigue as realistic elements of his fictional world—echoing real rumors.
• [14:00]: David Merritt and Maleret discuss the implications of elite gatherings for the wider world, not just attendees.
• [15:28-16:21]: Deep uncertainty and fear among European leaders about global shifts and their impact.

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Tone & Language

The conversation is candid and slightly irreverent—Maleret is direct about the self-serving nature of Davos, while Merritt keeps the dialogue accessible with a lightly satirical edge. They maintain respect for the influence of the forum but are realistic about its motivations and machinations.

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Conclusion

This episode strips back the mythos of the World Economic Forum, exposing both its undeniable networking efficiency and the layers of unseen activity that surround it. By interweaving analysis, personal experience, and fiction, Thierry Maleret offers a lens into the “underbelly” of Davos, hinting at stories that cannot be told by journalism or official communiques. His “Deaths at Davos” series acts as both entertainment and subversive social commentary—grounded in the extraordinary power dynamics playing out annually in the Swiss Alps.

Transcript

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Bloomberg Audio Studios.

[David Merritt]

Podcasts Radio News hello listeners of in the City. This is David Merritt here bringing you another bonus episode from our coverage at the World Economic Forum in Davos. On the sidelines of the conference, I sat down with Thierry Maleret. Thierry is an economist who's worked as an advisor for major investment banks and governments, and he also has a long history with the World Economic Forum. He founded and headed the Global Risk Network at wef, and for a number of years in succession he conceived and put in place the program for the annual Davos meeting, where we are this week. He's also now an author known for co writing COVID 19 the Great Reset with the founder of the Forum himself, Klaus Schwab. But also some very interesting fiction more recently, including Deaths at Davos, a thriller set in a place loosely familiar but not actually the World Economic Forum. And now we have Deaths at Davos 2.0, a dark satire of what's really going on within the World Economic Forum. Welcome to the City of London.

[Thierry Maleret]

The City of. The City. The City of London.

[David Merritt]

The next station is Bank. Please mind the gap between the train and the platform. The financial heart of the country. The City.

[Thierry Maleret]

The City. Welcome to in the City.

[David Merritt]

Stand clear of the doors, please. Thierry, welcome to in the City.

[Thierry Maleret]

Thank you, David. Thank you very much.

[David Merritt]

Thank you for spending some time with us here. We're sitting in Davos. The snow is falling outside. This is a place that you know very, very well indeed. So I want to come up, talk about your book, of course, but just dialing it back, just tell us a little bit about your involvement with this place, because I want to understand from your perspective, how has the World Economic Forum evolved from its kind of original core mission to what we have around us today. Take us back to the beginning.

[Thierry Maleret]

Sure. So I was an employee of the World economic forum from 2000 to 2007. I was first in charge of Davos for three or four years, and then I created the Global Risk Network, which is a publication that is issued a week before Davos, measuring global risk as seen from the perspective of global CEOs, members of the World Economic Forum. And then I left. But I stayed in touch with Klaus Schwab, and I wrote several books with him.

[David Merritt]

So, Klaus, writer, in case anybody listening doesn't know, Klaus Schwab is the World Economic Forum, isn't he?

[Thierry Maleret]

That's his creature.

[David Merritt]

It's his creature, his creation. Absolutely hard to imagine it without him. Just tell us a little bit about him as a figure and how important he is to this gathering.

[Thierry Maleret]

He's absolutely vital to the gathering. I think this is the 55th edition, if I'm not mistaken. So he created the World Economic Forum 55 years ago. He's very much his creature. He's been at the helm ever since the organization was founded. He's now 86. He's still in charge.

[David Merritt]

He's still been on stage.

[Thierry Maleret]

He's still on stage despite having relinquished his role as Executive chairman. But he's the chairman of the Foundation Board, which is a body that dictates what Economic Forum is all about. So, yes, he's very much the person in charge. That's his baby.

[David Merritt]

It's his baby. And he still persuades people to travel from all around the world. I mean, this discussion about. And we were talking a bit about this earlier, this debate about how relevant is the World Economic Forum. Why travel to Switzerland in January in the freezing cold? Is it because of the ability to actually be in person? That is still necessary. Why does this meeting still have relevance today?

[Thierry Maleret]

Because when I joined the forum, the motto was still very much the driving force committed to improving the state of the world.

[David Merritt]

That's the mission statement.

[Thierry Maleret]

That's the mission state.

[David Merritt]

Right.

[Thierry Maleret]

I don't think it has any validity any longer. Now. The World Economic Forum in Davos and in other places has become the mother of all platforms. Everybody comes because that's the place where you do business. It's a fantastically efficient platform. If you're business, you come because you're going to meet your suppliers, your customers, your regulators, the central bankers, the head of state of the countries in which you do business. If you're the head of state, you're meeting your peers, the companies that do business in your country. So everybody has an incentive to attend because it's remarkably efficient as a platform. You meet everybody in a week, but that.

[David Merritt]

So the incentive is efficiency. It's doing business, it's doing deals. So that's quite different to improving the state of the world.

[Thierry Maleret]

Totally different. I think improving the state of the world has become irrelevant.

[David Merritt]

Improving the state of your balance sheet or your bottom line, should they shift it to that?

[Thierry Maleret]

Absolutely. That's what. That's one of the points we develop in the book. Write about in the book. Absolutely. It's about improving the P and L.

[David Merritt]

But that's real, right? I mean, I think it's very real.

[Thierry Maleret]

And again, hats off to Klaus Schwab and the organization for having succeeded in. In managing this transformation.

[David Merritt]

It's not a cheap thing to come to, is it, Davos? I mean, I think we're sitting in an apartment with a Bloomberg studio set up here. But people are renting out their apartments for huge amounts of money. The prices for the hotels are astronomical. Restaurant bookings are really hard to come by. You know, getting here and being part of this is an investment, isn't it?

[Thierry Maleret]

It is an investment. And companies come because they generate a good return on the investment. Yeah. Everything, as you said, is obscenely expensive. It's obscenely expensive, and yet people come. Why? Because they generate a good return.

[David Merritt]

Yeah. And it's not just so all the stuff that happens on stage, you know, so there's the conference center, Karl Schwab holding court, world leaders, business titans conducting conversations. It's all the stuff that happens outside the conference center, isn't it? It's the parties, it's the drinks parties. I mean, I've just been here, you know, it's Thursday today, all week. The chatter is around what things are people getting invited to. And every corporation, every organization seems to be hosting some sort of party. Has that always been the case? Has it always been about the kind of the networking and the kind of.

[Thierry Maleret]

The late night drinking? When I was in charge of Davos 20 years ago, I think there were about 1,000 private events on the margin of the official event today. It's very hard to measure this number, but talking to different people this week, they tell me it could be between anything between 2, 3 and 5,000, which I believe is real. For example, on Monday, I went to what I think is the most important for me private event in Davos, which is a Bill Brothers dinner. Everybody who has an interest in Russia, which is my case, tends to participate in this private event. But Bill doesn't pay anymore. It is not a white badge, because he's saying that it's not interesting for him to do so, but he has this remarkable dinner. And so every night you have God knows how many hundreds of dinners, not only in Davos, in Klosters, in Sargans.

[David Merritt]

In Zurich and those. In a way, that's the hotter ticket, Right. To get an invite to one of these dinners where you will meet and have a sort of insight and conversation that actually is going to serve you better than going and listening to someone talk at the Congress Centre.

[Thierry Maleret]

And every private company present in Davos has its own dinner, lunch, or whatever it may be.

[David Merritt]

Yeah. And just to explain if anyone does. So the badge system is. This is the. This is the sort of the pecking order at Davos, right?

[Thierry Maleret]

Very much so.

[David Merritt]

The white badge is the much coveted white badge. That's for the 1%, the 0.1 percenters, isn't it? So that's the CEOs, the. My boss, he had a white badge. And then you have the lowly hacks like me with an orange badge. Basically, that's the media. So there are these different colours.

[Thierry Maleret]

There's nobody like me because I have a badge.

[David Merritt]

But you don't feel you need one, right?

[Thierry Maleret]

No, because I come here.

[David Merritt]

Actually. It's peripheral to. Actually you don't need to go into the conference center.

[Thierry Maleret]

Absolutely. So there are many hangers on like me, Right. God knows how many.

[David Merritt]

But you're at the Bill Browder dinner, so it sounds like you were right where you needed to be.

[Thierry Maleret]

Absolutely.

[David Merritt]

Let's talk a bit about your book, Thierry. So I'm so fascinated by this. You worked at the WEF for years. You have been very much an insider in this institution and its growth, and you've written a book We've got your second book novel here. First one, Deaths at Davos. We now have Deaths at Davos 2.0. Tell us about the story. It's a thriller set at this forum. Tell us about the idea and what happened to the book.

[Thierry Maleret]

Well, first of all, a word of warning. It's. It's a fictional place. So the thriller takes place at the annual gathering organized by the Circle. And.

[David Merritt]

Okay, so this is not, to be clear, we're not talking about the World Economic Forum.

[Thierry Maleret]

No, but it takes place. It's a thriller, so it has to be grounded in reality.

[David Merritt]

Yes.

[Thierry Maleret]

And because I was part of the wef, I understand the functioning of this tunnel gathering, so that's a backdrop. But again, it's not about the wef. So the idea is to explore in a thriller, first of all, what's happening behind the scenes of Davos. And there is a lot happening, a lot happening that nobody sees. The sex parties, for example. And I describe one of them in the book. A lot of this is happening. Everything closes in principle at 10am 10pm sorry, 10pm and then a huge amount of activities.

[David Merritt]

And then more happens, more happens on a slightly.

[Thierry Maleret]

So you want to go behind the scene to get a sense of what's happening. And also, that's my thick thriller, so I have an appetite for thrillers. And I think that when you write fiction, you are bound by nothing except the power of your own imagination. So instead of writing an essay of what Global Gathering is all about and what's happening, I think a thriller opens many, many doors that you wouldn't be able to explore otherwise. And this is a spy thriller because there is such a huge concentration of power in Davos. Financial power, political power, economic power, media power. Let's think about how enticing this may be for intelligence services. And this is what this book explores through the lens of what's happening between the US and Russia at the moment. So the idea was really to figure out what Trump is going to do to intelligence services in the US and how this might affect the geopolitical order in the months to come. And I don't want to say more than that.

[David Merritt]

Buy the book and read it. Right.

[Thierry Maleret]

So.

[David Merritt]

And I mean, it is perfect as a setting for a story like this, isn't it? Of course, if you're walking around the town, you can see we were in the Congress center yesterday with the Ukrainian President Zelensky. John McThurrent in chief did an interview with him. There are snipers on the roofs, there are helicopters overhead. The security is Palpable. That sort of sense of tension is there because of the people that are walking around. So it is not a huge stretch of imagination to go from that to thinking, of course not what's going on.

[Thierry Maleret]

But you know, you couldn't write an essay or an article in a journal about it because by virtue, intelligence is about what you don't know. If you know about it. It's not intelligence anymore. So you can only explore this via a novel. Yes, a thriller. And this is what I'm trying to do in this book.

[David Merritt]

And to stress completely fictionalized, everyone anyways listening out there.

[Thierry Maleret]

Well, it's fiction, but grounded in reality.

[David Merritt]

But grounded in reality. Grounded in reality. Because I guess the serious side is there are serious implications for the conversations that are happening here that affect the non 1% of people. There are big problems happening in the world, There are conflicts happening in the world, and you have the power brokers of the planet convening here in this place. So this idea that there's this kind of underbelly of activity here is quite compelling, isn't it?

[Thierry Maleret]

It is, very much so. And again, so much is happening in this underbelly. There is what everybody sees. You report wonderfully about this. And then there is what's happening in the underbelly, which is probably even more significant because Trump's election, as we can see this week, is going to change everything in the US and in the rest of the world.

[David Merritt]

And it's been certainly this week, it's felt to me like it's the conversations that aren't happening on the stage, the conversations that no one really is willing to have in public because everyone has been watching, actually, what's been happening in Washington this week, of course. So that has really heightened this sense of the action happening slightly off stage here and everyone watching and waiting to see what the new president's going to do. We all know that he's doing a lot. And it's going to affect the businesses, the economies, the countries that are represented here this week. But it's all slightly out of their control, which feels a little bit unusual for the power brokers who are here as well. They don't like it particularly?

[Thierry Maleret]

No, absolutely. And you said before we started this interview that there was a sentiment that Europe is very fearful about the future. And this is what this book explores in particular, because there's so many reasons to assert that geopolitically, economically, financially, Europe is going to be increasingly vulnerable in the years to come. And you saw it by interviewing, when interviewing the European leaders Everybody is guarded. Everyone is incredibly careful about what they're saying.

[David Merritt]

They don't want to get on the.

[Thierry Maleret]

Wrong side of the new president, because otherwise you are in trouble.

[David Merritt]

But also, you know, the other thing we've heard this this week as well, is they feel Europe's being left behind. The American economy, the American companies, they are galloping away over the horizon. There doesn't seem to be any solutions to the problems that the structural problems that Europe have got. And it feels even more personal coming.

[Thierry Maleret]

To Switzerland to talk about there might be an upside when Europe is. Is stuck with its back against the wall. Maybe that the moment when shake it out of it. Yeah, absolutely. Policies will be put into place, and Europe will invest more into defense, you know, gdp.

[David Merritt]

Part of that's got to be the hope, right?

[Thierry Maleret]

Defense spending would increase and. Because they'll be forced to do that.

[David Merritt]

Yeah. And then maybe they will be improving the state of the world. Is that going to be the way?

[Thierry Maleret]

Absolutely. As we saw this year, things change incredibly fast.

[David Merritt]

Incredibly fast.

[Thierry Maleret]

Everything that's happening this week was unimaginable last year at Davos.

[David Merritt]

I mean, it really was, right?

[Thierry Maleret]

Almost.

[David Merritt]

It was. I mean, I think there was definitely a sense of foreboding about political shifts last year. But you're right. I feel like the conversation last year had none of the angles that we're. That are at the forefront this year.

[Thierry Maleret]

Absolutely. And here we are.

[David Merritt]

And here we are. So what's next, Thierry? Are we going to have a 3.0?

[Thierry Maleret]

Absolutely.

[David Merritt]

Yeah. This is a whole series.

[Thierry Maleret]

Fantastic opportunity, right? Yeah. So it'll be the next one next year.

[David Merritt]

There will be more deaths at Davos.

[Thierry Maleret]

Absolutely. Of course.

[David Merritt]

I look forward to reading that. Thierry Mallory, thank you so much for telling us about your book and with your history with this forum, and maybe we could come back next year and I'd be delighted to talk about the secret work.

[Thierry Maleret]

Thank you, David.

[David Merritt]

Thank you. Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of in the City from Bloomberg. It was hosted by me, David Merritt. It was produced by Soma Sardi and Moses Andam. Sound design is by Blake Maples and Brendan Francis Newnham is our executive producer. Special thanks to Thierry Mallory. Please do subscribe rate and review Wherever you listen to podcasts.

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