Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Happy Birthday | Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turns 53 today. The richest man on the planet, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is turning 54. Julia Roberts celebrates her 42nd birthday today. Conan sidekick Andy Richter is turning 43. Joaquin Phoenix is 35. Bruce Jenner, the former athlete and current stepdad to the Kardashian clan, is turning 60. The CEO of Pepsi, Indra Nooyi, is turning 54. Singer/songwriter Ben Harper is 40. Actress Lauren Holly is 46. Actor Dennis Franz is turning 65. And former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres turns 35 today.

It's that time of year again, time for the Allen & Co's annual media industry confab in Sun Valley, Idaho. Occasionally described as a "summer camp for billionaires," the Herb Allen-hosted event is expected to atrract more than 250 media chiefs, tech moguls, financiers, Hollywood agents, and politicians, as well as the odd sports star or two. (LeBron James will be putting in an appearance this year.) Mostly, however, it will be populated by the sort of people who make it a point to show up every year, people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Barry Diller, Sumner Redstone, and Rupert Murdoch, all of whom will undoubtedly be photographed over the coming days taking part in one of the many leisure activities arranged for attendees, like rafting, yoga, chess, bridge (a particular fave of Buffett and Gates), and biking (see Diller, left). More

• Last week Bette Midler was handing out dating tips to Jennifer Aniston. This week she's rolling with 50 Cent. Not only have the two become "unlikely best friends," but Bette says 50 has "really made my life worth living," and has been by her side "through thick and thin." She'd even like to sing backup on one of his new songs, too. Also? She's totally lost it, clearly. [NYDN]
• Speaking of Aniston, she's supposedly taking a little break right now due to "exhaustion." [Sun]
• The woman accused of having an affair with Bruce Springsteen says her ex made the whole thing up so he'd get "big money" from the singer to stay quiet. [People] 
• Hilary Rhoda is reportedly dating Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. [P6]
• Amy Winehouse was reportedly hospitalized for the third time in as many months on Tuesday, although she's since been released. [Mirror]More

When the Yellowstone Club filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, company execs were quick to reassure the clubs roster of billionaire moguls that the resort would remain open for the ski season. Now it looks like Bill Gates, Barry Sternlicht, Peter Chernin, Dan Quayle and the club's other members are going to need to find someplace else to spend Christmas vacation. Court filings indicate that the club doesn't have enough money to make monthly payroll, or even pay this month's food and electricity bills. What will happen? One suggestion: "Gates can just buy it and save the hassle of worrying about where to ski this winter." [WSJ]

Yellowstone Club Goes Under | It looks like hotel mogul Barry Sternlicht, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Hollywood boss Peter Chernin may need to make some adjustments to their 2009 vacation itineraries: The Yellowstone Club, the invitation-only private ski and golf resort in Montana for the exceedingly wealthy, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. Club officials say the resort will remain open for the ski season, but its long-term prospects are unclear. The good news is that the club's 340 members will no longer have to fork over $16,000 a year in membership dues. The not-so-good news: Their $250,000 initiation fees just went down the drain. [AP]

Happy Birthday | Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft (and, sadly, only the third-richest man in the world these days) turns 53 today. Closer to home, Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi is also marking her 53rd. Others celebrating: Julia Roberts is 41. Joaquin Phoenix turns 34. Musician Ben Harper is 39. Bruce Jenner, the man to blame for bringing Brody Jenner into the world, is 59. Actress Lauren Holly is 45. And Dayanara Torres, former Miss Universe and former wife of Marc Anthony, is 34.

The first Microsoft ad starring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates (and for which Seinfeld was paid $10 million) is now online. It's not especially funny—it starts off in a mall shoe store, Jerry does a lot of talking, and Bill looks sorta sad. Although you probably would have been more surprised if it actually had made you laugh. [AlleyInsider]

You know Microsoft is hopelessly out of touch when the opening paragraph of the Wall Street Journal article that's supposed to be touting the tech giant's marketing coup starts off something like this: "Microsoft Corp., weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple Inc.'s advertising, is turning for help to Jerry Seinfeld." Huh? Microsoft is hoping to appeal to the Gen Y demo—people in their 20s—by hiring a spokesman who is 54? Better yet: Seinfeld will be appearing in the commercials alongside Bill Gates himself, who doesn't exactly conjure up an image of cool with iPod-listening, Macbook-carrying hipsters on the L train. The $300 million campaign, which will debut on Sept. 4th, will be promoting Microsoft's Vista operating system, which, company officials acknowledge, has generated a "negative public perception." (That's probably because it sucks.) Why did Seinfeld decide to participate? We're guessing it may have had something to do with the $10 million paycheck.More

• InBev may need to raise its offer for Anheuser-Busch by $7 billion to win over the company's board. [Bloomberg]
• Bank of America will cut 7,500 jobs at its recently-acquired Countrywide. [NYS]
• Yahoo announced a major reorganization. And Carl Icahn officially filed his bid to clean out Yahoo's board of directors. [WSJ, Dealbook]
  
• TPG and KKR are trying to capitalize on the credit crunch by invest in money management firms. [Bloomberg]
• U.S. M&A activity sank 29% in the second quarter. [Reuters]
• Today is Bill Gates' last day as a full-time Microsoft employee. [NYT]