A number of big-name corporations have donated to the Clinton Global Initiative, which kicked off today in New York City and is the last of its kind, as Bill Clinton slowly steps away from his foundation in case wife Hillary Clinton wins the White House.

Corporate sponsors include Hewlett-Packard, McDonald's and Western Union, with the CGI also partnering with Microsoft, Cisco and Procter & Gamble. And while the confab isn't nearly as CEO-studded as in years past, bosses from Sony, GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco and Unilever are slated to speak.

The Clinton Global Initiative is part of the Clinton Foundation, which has become controversial within the context of the presidential campaign as Hillary Clinton's rival Donald Trump and his allies have pointed fingers at the charity, suggesting there was some pay-to-play when the Democratic nominee was secretary of state.

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Former President Bill Clinton kicked off a final Clinton Global Initiative today in New York as he begins winding down his foundation's work in case Hillary Clinton wins the White House

Former and perhaps future first daughter Chelsea Clinton was on hand at the Clinton Global Initiative today, which still attracted a handful of corporate donors amid pay-to-play claims

Hillary Clinton's emails show Clinton Foundation donors getting access to her top aides, but no correspondence has yet to prove that special favors by government employees were carried out.

Still yet, this year's conference is a diminished version of itself.

Yes, there are celebrities, world leaders and CEOs, but it's not the power players meet-up that once warranted a Forbes article on what to wear, as even Hillary Clinton – likely for political purposes – is skipping out, like she did last year.

Gone are the Republicans – like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, now tasked with running Trump's transition team, and Carly Fiorina, who ran for president as well – who have appeared in the past.

Not coming is President Barack Obama, even though he's in New York for the U.N. General Assembly and is attending a number of political fundraisers.

And also vanished are some corporate sponsors from years before including The Coca-Cola Company, Monsanto, ExxonMobil, Deutsche Bank and Samsung.

Instead, a liberal favorite, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, will appear on a panel.

Chief executive officers coming include Kazuo Hirai of Sony, Sir Andrew Witty of GSK, Paul Polman of Unilever and John Chambers, Cisco's former CEO who's now the company's executive chairman.

The celebrities in attendance are all liberal stand-bearers.

There's U2 frontman Bono and actor Ben Affleck, along with rocker Jon Bon Jovi, who helped Hillary Clinton campaign during the Democratic primary against Sen. Bernie Sanders in New Jersey.

Bill Clinton lamented having to give up his foundation, and in turn CGI, during an interview recorded last night with NPR.

'It's hard, but, you know, if Hillary is elected I'm looking forward to it,' he said.

'And you know, we always say in response to our critics, that nobody in my family ever took a penny out of this foundation and put millions of dollars in,' Clinton said, trying to set the record straight.

But over the course of the interview he also admitted that at least some of the Clinton Foundation donors probably did so to gain access to the Clintons, with a Clinton White House 2.0 in mind.

'Well, since we had more than 300,000 donors it would be unusual if nobody did,' Bill Clinton said.

'It was natural for people who've been our political allies and personal friends to call and ask for things,' Clinton said. 'And I trusted the State Department wouldn't do anything they shouldn't do, from a meeting to a favor.'