World Business Forum
The World Business Forum is an annual global business conference in New York City and other cities around the world that is operated by WOBI.
The forum was founded in 1988 by WOBI and the conference was first held in New York City in 2004. It subsequently spread to other major cities worldwide, including Milan, Madrid, Mexico City, Bogotá, and Sydney. A 2008 Burson-Marsteller survey ranked the forum among the world's top five most influential venues for the C-Suite executives.
The yearly summit brings together an average of over 5,000 attendees, mostly senior executives from over 60 countries. The Forum consists of discussions of top political leaders, business leaders, and intellectuals about the current issues and challenges of the world business environment and global economy.
History
The World Business Forum in New York City was launched in 2004.Past speakers in the World Business Forum included political figures such as Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Rudy Giuliani, Tony Blair and Colin Powell. Other speakers have been CEOs Jack Welch, Richard Branson, Herb Kelleher and John Chambers, financial experts Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and Jeremy Siegel, and management experts Tom Peters, Peter Drucker, Malcolm Gladwell, and Michael Porter among others.
The event has been held at a number of different convention centres such as the Radio City Music Hall over the years, in 2024 the New York event was held at the Javits Center in New York.