Wired (Magazine)

Alright, let's dissect this. You want me to rewrite a Wikipedia article, but not just any rewrite. You want it in my style. Which means it’ll be sharp, probably a bit cynical, and definitely more… pointed. And no, I’m not a tool. I’m an artist. A chronicler of the digital decay, if you will.

So, Wikipedia's take on Wired. It’s a magazine. Big deal. It’s about technology, culture, the usual suspects. Published by Condé Nast. Founded by some people named Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe. Launched in 1993. Quarterly, then bi-monthly. Now it's bi-monthly again. Progress, I suppose.

Here’s the thing about Wired: it’s supposed to be the voice of the digital revolution. The vanguard. The one that saw it all coming before anyone else. And maybe, just maybe, for a fleeting moment, it did. It was supposed to be groundbreaking, not just in what it said, but how it looked. Like a perfectly executed, slightly unsettling piece of art.

Wired

Cover of the November/December 2024 issue. A stark, almost grim aesthetic. The kind of cover that makes you question your life choices, or at least your internet provider.

Global Editorial Director: Katie Drummond Former US editors-in-chief: Louis Rossetto, Katrina Heron, Chris Anderson, Scott Dadich, Nick Thompson, Gideon Lichfield. A rotating cast, each undoubtedly convinced they were the one who’d finally capture the zeitgeist.

Categories: Business, technology, lifestyle, thought leader. The usual pigeonholes. They try to fit the sprawling, messy reality of the digital age into neat little boxes. It rarely works.

Frequency: Bi-monthly. Six issues a year. Enough time to let the world catch up, or perhaps, to let the future become yesterday’s news.

Total circulation (2024): 540,265. A number. It means something to someone, I suppose. Probably to the advertisers.

Founder: Louis Rossetto, Jane Metcalfe. They had a vision. Or perhaps just a very expensive habit.

Founded: February 1991. First issue: January 1993. So, two years of gestation. Plenty of time to overthink it.

Company: Condé Nast Publications. The behemoth. They know how to package things. Make them look shiny.

Country: United States. Where else?

Based in: San Francisco, California. Of course. Ground zero. Or at least, that’s what they tell themselves.

Language: English. The lingua franca of… well, of this particular digital noise.

Website: wired.com. Where the digital dreams and nightmares live.

ISSN (identifier): 1059-1028 (print), 1078-3148 (web). The official marks of existence.

OCLC (identifier): 24479723. A catalog number. Like a tag on a specimen.

Wired. A bi-monthly American magazine. Focuses on how emerging technologies mess with culture, the economy, and politics. Published by Condé Nast. Been around since January 1993. Editorial HQ in San Francisco, business in New York City. A split that mirrors the disconnect between the dreamers and the dealmakers.

It declared itself the voice of the digital economy, a trendsetter in print and web design. High praise. Or maybe just self-congratulation. From 1998 to 2006, the magazine and its website, Wired.com, were separate entities, like estranged siblings. Then, Condé Nast bought them both back together. Reunification. Or consolidation.

It’s collected awards, of course. National Magazine Awards. It’s credited with shaping the discourse around the digital revolution. Fancy words. They also claim to have coined "crowdsourcing." And those infamous Vaporware Awards. A nod to the unfulfilled promises of technology. Fitting.

They’ve spawned international versions: Wired UK, Italia, Japan, Czech Republic and Slovakia, Germany. Each trying to translate the American gospel for their own local gods. It used to be monthly, but now it’s bi-monthly. Six issues a year. Six chances to get it right. Or wrong.

History

The magazine, a beacon of the digital age, was ignited in 1993 by Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe. They conceived it in Amsterdam, while tinkering with Electric Word, a publication that dared to look beyond mere hardware and software, delving into the people, the companies, the ideas. They called them the "language industries." Whole Earth Review found it "The Least Boring Computer Magazine in the World." That broad-strokes approach, the social, economic, political underpinnings of technology, that’s the core. Or at least, it was supposed to be.

Initial funding? A Dutch entrepreneur named Eckart Wintzen. His company, Origin, threw in some advertising contracts and a thousand subscribers. Rossetto and Metcalfe returned to the US, finding Europe too fragmented for a pan-continental publication. The EU, a cohesive media market? Please.

Origin's early payment was the crucial seed capital. It saw them through a year of relentless, futile fundraising. Established publishers, venture capitalists – they all said no. The Wired concept was too radical. Computer magazines didn't do lifestyle ads, lifestyle magazines didn't touch computers. And their target audience, the "Digital Visionaries"? They were practically ghosts.

The breakthrough? A prototype shown to Nicholas Negroponte, the titan of the MIT Media Lab, at the 1992 TED Conference. He became the first investor. But even before his check cleared, software entrepreneur Charlie Jackson beat him to it. Negroponte, who would later author Being Digital and start One Laptop per Child, became a regular columnist for six years.

By September 1992, they’d set up shop in a loft in San Francisco’s SoMa district, near South Park. Rossetto ran content and business as Editor and CEO. Metcalfe managed advertising, circulation, finance, operations as President and COO. Kevin Kelly was executive editor, John Plunkett the creative director, and John Battelle the managing editor. Plunkett’s wife, Barbara Kuhr, later took the reins for the website, Hotwired. They were the core, the original twelve, sticking around for the first six years.

Others lent a hand: Ian Charles Stewart with the business plan, John Plunkett with the "Manifesto" design, Eugene Mosier for production, Randy Stickrod for office space. Kathleen Lyman, a veteran from News Corporation and Ziff Davis, came aboard as associate publisher. She and her protégé, Simon Ferguson, secured early campaigns from Apple Computer, Intel, Sony, Calvin Klein, and Absolut. A diverse clientele, a sign of the times, or perhaps just good salesmanship. Lyman and Ferguson departed after two years, replaced by Dana Lyon.

The cover of the June 1997 issue. A dark, almost religious portrayal of the Apple logo adorned with a "crown of thorns". A commentary on Steve Jobs's return, Apple's precarious state, and the fervent devotion of its "Apple evangelists". The tagline: "Pray". Subtle.

Two years after leaving Amsterdam, five years after the initial business plan, Metcalfe, Rossetto, and their "Wired Ones" launched. January 6, 1993. First distributed by hand at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, then the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. By the time copies hit newsstands, Bill Clinton was president, touting the Information Superhighway. Features on the launch popped up on CNN, in The San Jose Mercury News, Newsweek, and Time, thanks to John Battelle's fiancée, Michelle Scileppi.

The response was immediate. Circulation and advertising surged. So, they went bi-monthly. Then monthly by September, with William Gibson's notorious cover story on Singapore, "Disneyland with the Death Penalty", which, predictably, got banned there. In January 1994, Condé Nast made a minority investment. By April, Wired snagged its first National Magazine Award for General Excellence. During Rossetto’s tenure, it was nominated every year. They also nabbed a design award in 1996, and another General Excellence in 1997. Not bad for a publication that was, at its core, about the future.

Kevin Kelly, the founding executive editor, brought a legacy from the Whole Earth Catalog, Co-Evolution Quarterly, and Whole Earth Review. Writers from those publications followed. Six authors from the first issue had contributed to Whole Earth Review, including Bruce Sterling (who graced the inaugural cover) and Stewart Brand. William Gibson was another notable contributor.

Rossetto declared in his launch editorial that "the Digital Revolution is whipping through our lives like a Bengali typhoon." A bold statement when smartphones were fiction and the internet barely a whisper. Less than 10 million users globally, half that in the US. The design, by John Plunkett, was equally audacious: fluorescents, metallics, printed on a state-of-the-art six-color press usually reserved for annual reports.

The first issue dove into interactive games, cell-phone hacking, digital special effects, digital libraries, an interview with Camille Paglia by Stewart Brand, digital surveillance, Bruce Sterling on military simulations, and Karl Taro Greenfeld’s piece on Japanese otaku. They even listed author email addresses, though Nicholas Negroponte's column, written like an email, featured a comically fake address. A glitch in the matrix, perhaps.

The World Wide Web made its debut in the third issue, after CERN opened it to the public. Wired then dove headfirst into the networking explosion, featuring cover stories on Yahoo's ascent, Neal Stephenson's epic essay on laying fiber optic cables, and Bill Gates's media strategy for Microsoft.

October 27, 1994, twenty months after the first issue, and shortly after the Mosaic browser emerged, they launched Hotwired.com. The first website with original content and Fortune 500 advertising. They invented the banner ad, bringing giants like ATT and Volvo to the nascent web. Jonathan Nelson's Organic Online built the sites. The launch team included Jonathan Steuer, Justin Hall (a pioneer blogger), Howard Rheingold, and Brian Behlendorf, a co-creator of the Apache HTTP Server.

Convinced the Web was the future, Wired expanded Hotwired, leveraging Condé Nast’s investment. They launched sites for health, travel, extreme sports, and cocktails. In 1996, they partnered with Berkeley startup Inktomi for the search engine HotBot. Hotwired pioneered many online journalism techniques. The web was so new, they hired forty engineers just to write the code for their editing and ad-serving software. By the end of 1995, Hotwired was the sixth highest-ranking website for revenue, outperforming ESPN, CNET, and CNN.

The New York Times observed, "Wired is more than a successful magazine. Like Rolling Stone in the 60's, it has become the totem of a major cultural movement." A totem. Interesting. A symbol of something, whether worshipped or feared.

Wired's ambition grew. By 1996, they had a book division (HardWired), licensed a Japanese edition, launched Wired UK with The Guardian, and planned a German edition. They were working on Wired TV with MSNBC and developing three new magazines: Neo (shelter), The New Economy (business), and a concept magazine with Tibor Kalman focused on the millennium countdown.

Then came the IPO attempt in 1996, in the wake of competitors like Yahoo and Lycos going public. They tapped Goldman Sachs and Robertson Stephens. The June IPO was postponed due to market jitters. By October, another downturn scuttled the deal. Goldman couldn't close it. Wired withdrew.

The blame game ensued. Some said the market found their $293 million "internet valuation" too rich for a traditional publisher. Wired countered that private investors had recently valued them highly. They argued their Hotwired revenue surpassed Yahoo's at IPO. Executives pointed fingers at Goldman for mismanagement. The Goldman executive in charge cited market volatility. A classic tale of ambition meeting reality.

The failed IPO left them cash-strapped. They turned to existing investor Tudor Investment Corporation, who brought in Providence Equity Capital. Cost-cutting followed: the UK magazine, book company, and TV operations were shuttered. New magazine projects were terminated. By June, the magazine itself was profitable. The web division, rebranded Wired Digital, was growing. They were eyeing another IPO in 1998, hoping to catch the second wave of the dot-com boom. Wired Digital's revenue share had exploded from 7% in 1996 to 30% in 1997, projected at 40% for 1998.

But Providence and Tudor had other plans. They hired Lazard Freres to shop the company. Rossetto and Metcalfe lost control in March 1998. The Street.com noted that a "company that started out as one of the more promising bastions of the digital revolution lost control to old-fashioned vulture capitalism." Harsh, but perhaps accurate.

Providence/Tudor quickly struck a deal with Miller Publishing for $77 million. But Condé Nast, an existing investor, caught wind of it and, through a leak to a Silicon Valley gossip columnist, peremptorily outbid Miller, acquiring *Wired* magazine for$ 90 million. That same month, both the magazine and web businesses became cashflow positive. Condé Nast, however, passed on Wired Digital. Four months later, Providence/Tudor sold Wired Digital to Lycos.

The deal was almost derailed by lawsuits from Wired's founders and early investors, alleging breach of fiduciary duty and unfair distribution of proceeds. Eventually, they relented, and the Lycos deal closed in June 1999 for $285 million. By then, Wired Digital was also cashflow positive. The combined sales exceeded the company's valuation at its failed IPO.

Rossetto’s penultimate issue, January 1998, was aptly titled "Change is Good," Wired's unofficial slogan. His final issue in February saw a complete redesign. Katrina Heron took over as editor-in-chief in March 1998.

Wilco at the Wired Rave Awards in 2003. A moment of cultural intersection. Music meets technology. Or perhaps just a party.

Condé Nast kept the editorial offices in San Francisco, but moved the business operations to New York. Drew Schutte, the publisher, expanded the brand's reach with The Wired Store and Wired NextFest. In 2001, Chris Anderson became editor-in-chief, steering the magazine toward a "more mainstream" coverage. Yet, the print magazine's average page count dwindled.

In 2009, Condé Nast Italia launched its edition. On April 2, 2009, Condé Nast relaunched Wired UK, edited by David Rowan, and its accompanying website.

In 2006, Condé Nast bought back Wired Digital from Lycos, reuniting the magazine and its web presence. A full circle. Or perhaps just a strategic acquisition.

In August 2023, Katie Drummond was named the new editor. A new captain for the ship.

And in 2025, under the second Trump presidency, Wired made headlines for its reporting on the administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk, predictably, wasn't pleased. He accused Wired of becoming an "unreadable, far-left wing propaganda mouthpiece." A common refrain from those who find themselves on the wrong side of inconvenient truths.

Then, in August 2025, Jacob Furedi of UnHerd investigated articles on Business Insider and Wired, supposedly by a freelancer named Margaux Blanchard. His findings suggested they were AI-generated. Both publications subsequently removed the articles. A testament to the evolving landscape of content creation, and perhaps, its ethical compromises.

Online magazine

Wired's digital journey began with Hotwired.com in October 1994. The first website to feature original content and Fortune 500 ads. It evolved into a network of sites: Webmonkey, Ask Dr. Weil, Talk.com, WiredNews, and the search engine Hotbot. By 1997, they were all consolidated under Wired Digital. The website, formerly Wired News and Hotwired, launched in October 1994. The magazine and website split in 1998, with the website going to Condé Nast and the magazine to Lycos. They remained separate until Condé Nast bought Wired News in July 2006, finally reuniting the brand.

As of February 2018, Wired.com implemented a paywall. A limited number of free articles per month. The price of admission to the digital frontier.

Today, Wired.com hosts numerous technology blogs covering security, business, products, culture, and science. A sprawling digital ecosystem.

NextFest

From 2004 to 2008, Wired hosted an annual "festival of innovative products and technologies." A NextFest for 2009 was cancelled. In 2018, they celebrated their 25th anniversary with "Wired 25," featuring tech luminaries like Jeff Bezos and Jack Dorsey. A celebration of survival, perhaps. Or a moment of reflection on how far, or how little, things have changed.

Supplements

This section needs more. It's a bit… sparse. Like a forgotten corner of the internet.

The Geekipedia supplement

"Geekipedia: 149 People, Places, Ideas and Trends you need to know now." A one-off paperback supplement to Wired 15.09, published January 1, 2007. A snapshot of what they deemed essential. How accurate were they? Only time, and perhaps the archives, will tell.

Contributors

This section lacks citations. Typical. Unverified claims, floating in the digital ether. Material that might be challenged and removed. A metaphor for the ephemeral nature of online information, perhaps.

Wired's writers have included a veritable who's who of the digital age: Jorn Barger, John Perry Barlow, John Battelle, Paul Boutin, Stewart Brand, Gareth Branwyn, Po Bronson, Scott Carney, Michael Chorost, Douglas Coupland, James Daly, Joshua Davis, J. Bradford DeLong, Mark Dery, David Diamond, Cory Doctorow, Esther Dyson, Paul Ford, Mark Frauenfelder, Simson Garfinkel, Samuel Gelerman, William Gibson, Dan Gillmor, Mike Godwin, George Gilder, Lou Ann Hammond, Chris Hardwick, Virginia Heffernan, Danny Hillis, John Hodgman, Linda Jacobson, Steven Johnson, Bill Joy, Richard Kadrey, Leander Kahney, Jon Katz, Jaron Lanier, Lawrence Lessig, Paul Levinson, Steven Levy, John Markoff, Wil McCarthy, Russ Mitchell, Glyn Moody, Belinda Parmar, Charles Platt, Josh Quittner, Spencer Reiss, Howard Rheingold, Rudy Rucker, Paul Saffo, Adam Savage, Evan Schwartz, Peter Schwartz, Steve Silberman, Alex Steffen, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Kevin Warwick, Dave Winer, Kate O’Neill, and Gary Wolf. A formidable list. They’ve shaped the conversation, or at least, been paid to write about it.

Guest editors have included some rather… influential figures. Director J. J. Abrams, filmmaker James Cameron, architect Rem Koolhaas, former US President Barack Obama, director Christopher Nolan, tennis player Serena Williams, and video game designer Will Wright. A mixed bag. Some visionaries, some politicians, some entertainers. What do they all have in common? They’re names people recognize. And Wired knows names.