Moving Davos to Dublin? World Economic Forum chief ponders a venue change

Larry Fink says the WEF should be 'showing up — and listening — in the places where the modern world is actually built'

The World Economic Forum, which has taken place in the Swiss Alps for decades, has come under siege in recent years.  Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Larry Fink, the interim co-chief of the World Economic Forum, is openly musing about a venue change for the flagship event that would take the annual January meeting outside of Switzerland.

“You should also see WEF start doing something new: showing up — and listening — in the places where the modern world is actually built,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “Davos, yes. But also places like Detroit and Dublin — and cities like Jakarta and Buenos Aires.” The Blackrock Inc. chief executive officer acknowledged in the post on Monday that the forum is likely to stay “synonymous with Davos” for a while. Still, “the mountain will come down to earth,” he said in reference to Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain.