wired (magazine)

File:Wikia and Wired Building location-9387.jpg

The magazine was launched in 1993 by American expatriates Louis Rossetto with his life partner and business partner Jane Metcalfe. Wired was originally conceived in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, when they were working on Electric Word, a small, groundbreaking technology magazine that developed a global following because of its focus not just on hardware and software, but the people, companies, and ideas that were part of what they called the language industries.{{Cite web |last=Goffman |first=Ken |date=2017-09-11 |title=Is Change Good? An Interview with Former Wired Magazine Publisher Louis Rossetto |url=https://www.mondo2000.com/2017/09/11/is-change-good-an-interview-with-former-wired-magazine-publisher-louis-rossetto/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=Mondo 2000 |language=en-US |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194639/https://www.mondo2000.com/2017/09/11/is-change-good-an-interview-with-former-wired-magazine-publisher-louis-rossetto/ |url-status=live }} Whole Earth Review called it "The Least Boring Computer Magazine in the World". This broader focus on the social, economic, and political issues surrounding technology became the core of the Wired editorial approach.

Initial funding for Wired was provided by Eckart Wintzen, a Dutch entrepreneur. His Origin software company extended a contract for advertising and bought the first 1000 subscribers.{{Cite magazine |last=Tweney |first=Dylan |title=Maverick IT Entrepreneur Eckart Wintzen Dies |url=https://www.wired.com/2008/03/maveric-it-entr/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=September 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240921214320/https://www.wired.com/2008/03/maveric-it-entr/ |url-status=live }} Rossetto and Metcalfe moved back to the United States to start Wired, finding the European Union not a cohesive enough media market to support a continent-wide publication.

Origin's upfront payment{{Cite magazine |last=Van Bakel |first=Rogier |date=1996-11-01 |title=Origin's Original |url=https://www.wired.com/1996/11/es-wintzen/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-date=January 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123200430/https://www.wired.com/1996/11/es-wintzen/ |url-status=live }} was the seed capital which saw Rossetto and Metcalfe through 12 fruitless months of fundraising. They approached established computer and lifestyle publishers, as well as venture capitalists, and met constant rejection. The Wired business concept was a radical departure. Computer magazines carried no lifestyle advertising, and lifestyle magazines carried no computer advertising.{{cite magazine |last=Greenwald |first=Ted |year=2013 |title=Step Behind the Scenes of the Frantic, Madcap Birth of Wired: An Oral History of Wired 01.01 |url=https://www.wired.com/2013/04/wired0101/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030204404/https://www.wired.com/2013/04/wired0101/ |archive-date=October 30, 2022 |access-date=February 27, 2022 |magazine=Wired |df=mdy-all}} And Wired's target audience of “Digital Visionaries” was unknown.{{Cite web |last=Dear |first=Brian |date=2013-04-16 |title=Revisiting the Original 1992 WIRED Media Kit - brianstorms |url=http://brianstorms.com/2013/04/revisiting-the-original-1992-wired-media-kit.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=brianstorms.com |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194023/http://brianstorms.com/2013/04/revisiting-the-original-1992-wired-media-kit.html |url-status=live }}

Wired’s fundraising breakthrough came when they showed a prototype to Nicholas Negroponte, founder and head of the MIT Media Lab at the February 1992 TED Conference,{{Cite web |last=Fralich |first=Chris |date=2013-02-13 |title=A Brief History of TED |url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130224225634-37087-a-brief-history-of-ted/ |access-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194023/https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130224225634-37087-a-brief-history-of-ted/ |url-status=live }} which Richard Saul Wurman comped them to attend. Negroponte agreed to become the first investor in Wired, but even before he could write his check, software entrepreneur Charlie Jackson deposited the first investor money in the Wired account a few weeks later.{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Charlie |date=2021-11-02 |title=Why I Invested in Wired Magazine |url=https://www.s-beach.com/post/why-i-invested-in-wired-magazine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103170124/https://www.s-beach.com/post/why-i-invested-in-wired-magazine |archive-date=2021-11-03 |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Silicon Beach}} Negroponte was to become a regular columnist for six years (through 1998), wrote the book Being Digital, and later founded One Laptop per Child.

By September 1992, Wired had rented loft space in the SoMa district of San Francisco off South Park{{Cite web |last=Frauenfelder |first=Mark |date=August 26, 2015 |title=R.I.P. Randy Stickrod, great friend of Wired and Boing Boing |url=https://boingboing.net/2015/08/26/r-i-p-randy-stickrod-great-f.html |website=Boing Boing |access-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194641/https://boingboing.net/2015/08/26/r-i-p-randy-stickrod-great-f.html |url-status=live }} and hired its first employees. As Editor and CEO, Rossetto oversaw content and business strategy, and Metcalfe, as President and COO, oversaw advertising, circulation, finance, and company operations. Kevin Kelly was executive editor, John Plunkett creative director, and John Battelle managing editor.{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Kevin |title=Wired, the Lucky Early Years |url=https://kk.org/kevinkelly/wired-the-lucky-early-years/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=Kevin Kelly Blog |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194641/https://kk.org/kevinkelly/wired-the-lucky-early-years/ |url-status=live }} John Plunkett's wife and partner, Barbara Kuhr (Plunkett+Kuhr) later became the launch creative director of Wired's website Hotwired.{{Cite web |title=Looking back at Hotwired by Jeffrey Veen |url=https://veen.com/jeff/archives/000903.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=veen.com}} They were to remain with Wired through the first six years of publication, 1993–98.

Rossetto and Metcalfe were aided in starting Wired by Ian Charles Stewart, who helped write the original business plan, John Plunkett, who designed the "Manifesto", Eugene Mosier, who provided production support to create the first prototype (and later became Art Director for Production), and Randy Stickrod, who provided Rossetto and Metcalfe refuge in his office on South Park when they first arrived in San Francisco. IDG's George Clark arranged nationwide newsstand distribution. Associate publisher Kathleen Lyman joined Wired from News Corporation and Ziff Davis to execute on its ambition to attract both technology and lifestyle advertising, and delivered from the first issue. She and her protégé Simon Ferguson (Wired{{'}}s first advertising manager) landed pioneering campaigns by a diverse group of industry leaders such as Apple Computer, Intel, Sony, Calvin Klein, and Absolut. Lyman and Ferguson left in year two. Condé Nast veteran{{Cite web |title=COMPANY (team) |url=http://www.therefinedgroup.com/team |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=THE REFINED GROUP |language=en-US |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194023/http://www.therefinedgroup.com/team |url-status=live }} Dana Lyon then took over ad sales. File:Wired cover June 1997 "Pray".jpg |first= Brian |last= Lam |author-link= Brian Lam |access-date= 2019-03-30 |df= mdy-all |archive-date= August 30, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230830185732/https://gizmodo.com/wired-on-apple-pray-to-evil-genius-in-11-years-368903 |url-status= live }} The main article was about Apple Computer's NeXT acquisition, Steve Jobs' return as an "advisor" to then-CEO Gil Amelio, and Apple's dire straits at the time.{{cite news |first= Ben |last= Thompson |author-link= Ben Thompson (writer) |url= https://stratechery.com/2018/apples-middle-age/ |title= Apple's Middle Age |date= February 5, 2018 |access-date= March 31, 2019 |work= Stratechery |df= mdy-all |archive-date= August 30, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230830185803/https://stratechery.com/2018/apples-middle-age/ |url-status= live }} It depicts the iconic Apple logo with a stylized "crown of thorns". The tagline "Pray" is a nod to the company's Apple evangelists and "devout" followers.]]Two years after they left Amsterdam, and nearly five years after they first started work on the business plan, Metcalfe and Rossetto and their initial band of twelve Wired Ones launched Wired as a quarterly on 6 January 1993 and first distributed it by hand at Macworld Expo in San Francisco and, later that week, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.{{Cite magazine |last=Greenwald |first=Ted |title=Step Behind the Scenes of the Frantic, Madcap Birth of WIRED |url=https://www.wired.com/2013/04/wired0101/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030204404/https://www.wired.com/2013/04/wired0101/ |url-status=live }} Copies arrived on newsstand two weeks later as Bill Clinton took office as President, with his Vice President Al Gore touting the Information Superhighway. Due to the work of John Battelle's fiancée, ex-CBS producer Michelle Scileppi, feature pieces on Wired’s launch appeared on CNN and in The San Jose Mercury News, Newsweek and Time magazines.{{Cite web |last=Hamblin |first=Peter |date=2016 |title='Wired.' The Ripple Effect. |url=https://www.redbull.com/int-en/episodes/wired-the-ripple-effect-s02-e02 |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=www.redbull.com |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194641/https://www.redbull.com/int-en/episodes/wired-the-ripple-effect-s02-e02 |url-status=live }}

Circulation and advertising response was so strong that Wired went bi-monthly with its next issue, and monthly by September with the William Gibson cover story about Singapore called "Disneyland with the Death Penalty", which was banned there. In January 1994, Advance Publications's Condé Nast made a minority investment in Wired Ventures.{{Cite web |title=Conde Nast reunites mag and web site with purchase of Wired News. – Free Online Library |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Conde+Nast+reunites+mag+and+web+site+with+purchase+of+Wire%20d+News.-a0150583574 |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=www.thefreelibrary.com |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194023/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Conde+Nast+reunites+mag+and+web+site+with+purchase+of+Wire%20d+News.-a0150583574 |url-status=live }} And in April that year, Wired won its first National Magazine Award for General Excellence for its first year of publication. During Rossetto's five years as editor, it would be nominated for General Excellence every year, win the design award in 1996, and a second General Excellence in 1997.

Wired’s founding executive editor, Kevin Kelly, had been an editor of the Whole Earth Catalog, Co-Evolution Quarterly,  and the Whole Earth Review. He brought with him contributing writers from those publications. Six authors of the first Wired issue (1.1) had written for Whole Earth Review, most notably Bruce Sterling (who was on the first cover) and Stewart Brand. Other contributors to Whole Earth who appeared in Wired included William Gibson, who was also featured on Wired's cover in its first year.{{Cite magazine |last=Vanhemert |first=Kyle |title=How a Band of Rebels and Pioneers Launched WIRED's First Website 20 Years Ago Today |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/10/wired-hotwired-anniversary/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194641/https://www.wired.com/2014/10/wired-hotwired-anniversary/ |url-status=live }}

Wired co-founder Rossetto claimed in his launch editorial that "the Digital Revolution is whipping through our lives like a Bengali typhoon",{{Cite magazine |last=Rossetto |first=Louis |title=The Original WIRED Manifesto |url=https://www.wired.com/story/original-wired-manifesto/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194638/https://www.wired.com/story/original-wired-manifesto/ |url-status=live }} a bold statement at the time, when there were no smart phones, web browsers, and less than 10 million users connected to the Internet around the world, barely half that in the United States.{{Cite journal |last1=Ritchie |first1=Hannah |author1-link=Hannah Ritchie |last2=Mathieu |first2=Edouard |last3=Roser |first3=Max |author3-link=Max Roser |last4=Ortiz-Ospina |first4=Esteban |date=2023-04-13 |title=Internet |url=https://ourworldindata.org/internet |journal=Our World in Data |access-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-date=May 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503053037/https://ourworldindata.org/internet |url-status=live }} Bold also describes John Plunkett's graphic design, and its use of fluorescents and metallics. Uniquely for magazines, Wired was printed on a new, state of the art, high-end, six color press normally used for annual reports.

The first issue covered interactive games, cell-phone hacking, digital special effects, digital libraries, an interview with Camille Paglia by Stewart Brand, digital surveillance, Bruce Sterling's cover story about military simulations, and Karl Taro Greenfeld’s story on Japanese otaku.{{Cite web |title=Wired 1.1: An Archaeology - Fimoculous.com |url=http://www.fimoculous.com/archive/post-3813.cfm |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=www.fimoculous.com |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194641/http://www.fimoculous.com/archive/post-3813.cfm |url-status=live }} And while Wired was one of the first magazines to list the email addresses of its authors and contributors, the column by Nicholas Negroponte, while written in the style of an email message, surprisingly contained an obviously fake, non-standard email address.{{Cite web |last=Kevin Kelly |first=Gary Wolf |date=2003-08-14 |title=The WELL: Gary Wolf, "Wired -- a Romance" |url=https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/192/Gary-Wolf-Wired-a-Romance-page01.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=people.well.com |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194023/https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/192/Gary-Wolf-Wired-a-Romance-page01.html |url-status=live }}

That was remedied in the second issue. Wired first mentioned the World Wide Web in its third issue, after CERN put it in the public domain in April. Subsequently, Wired focused extensively on the networking explosion, carrying cover stories on Yahoo's origin story, Neal Stephenson's 50,000 word, epic essay on the laying of the fiber optic datalink from London to Japan, and Bill Gate's media strategy for Microsoft.

On October 27, 1994, 20 months after its first issue, and following the introduction of the first graphic web browser Mosaic, Wired Ventures launched its Hotwired website, the first with original content and Fortune 500 advertising.{{Cite web |last=Leo Laporte |first=Adam Fisher |date=2019-01-07 |title=Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, Valley of Genius |url=https://twit.tv/shows/valley-of-genius/episodes/16 |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=TWiT.tv |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194641/https://twit.tv/shows/valley-of-genius/episodes/16 |url-status=live }} Inventing the banner ad, Wired brought ATT, Volvo, MCI, Club Med and seven other companies to the web for the first time on websites built by Jonathan Nelson's Organic Online.{{Cite news |last=Markoff |first=John |date=1994-10-31 |title=THE MEDIA BUSINESS; A Magazine Seeks to Push the On-Line Envelope |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/31/business/the-media-business-a-magazine-seeks-to-push-the-on-line-envelope.html |access-date=2024-04-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194638/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/31/business/the-media-business-a-magazine-seeks-to-push-the-on-line-envelope.html |url-status=live }} Among the launch crew of 12 was Jonathan Steuer, who led the group, Justin Hall,{{Cite web |title=Justin Hall @ HotWired |url=https://www.links.net/vita/hw/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=www.links.net |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194642/https://www.links.net/vita/hw/ |url-status=live }} a pioneer blogger who ran his own successful site on the side, Howard Rheingold as executive editor, and Apache server co-creator Brian Behlendorf, who was webmaster.

Convinced the Web was the future of media, and using Condé Nast's investment, Wired bet its future by quickly expanding Hotwired into a suite of websites to include Ask Dr. Weil, Rough Guides, extreme sports, even cocktails. In 1996, it introduced its search engine HotBot in partnership with Berkeley startup Inktomi. Hotwired pioneered many of the features and techniques that would go on to define online journalism and online content creation in general.{{Cite web |last=Hoffman |first=Reid |date=2023-08-02 |title=A return to WIRED's original manifesto |url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/return-wireds-original-manifesto-reid-hoffman |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=www.linkedin.com |language=en |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194639/https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/return-wireds-original-manifesto-reid-hoffman |url-status=live }} The web was so new at the time, Wired hired forty engineers to write the code for its edit and ad serving software. By the end of 1995, Hotwired ranked sixth among all websites for revenue, ahead of ESPN, CNET, and CNN.{{Cite web |last=Rigdon |first=Joan E. |date=1995-12-08 |title=Web Sites Find Niche in Budgets Ruled by TV, Print Campaigns, the Wall Street Journal |url=http://archive.org/details/03Kahle002645 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |website=Wall Street Journal}}

The New York Times commented, "Wired is more than a successful magazine. Like Rolling Stone in the 60's, it has become the totem of a major cultural movement."{{Cite news |last=Keegan |first=Paul |date=1995-05-21 |title=The Digerati! |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/21/magazine/the-digerati.html |access-date=2024-04-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030202902/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/21/magazine/the-digerati.html |url-status=live }}

With Wired magazine and Hotwired's explosive growth, Wired expansion accelerated. By 1996, it had launched a book publishing division (HardWired), licensed a Japanese edition with Dohosha Publishing, created a British edition (Wired UK) in a joint venture with the Guardian newspaper,{{Cite web |last=Securities and Exchange Commission |first=SEC |date=1996-05-30 |title=List of Wired Businesses in Wired's stock prospectus |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1015089/0000891618-96-000684.txt |website=SEC Archives |access-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194023/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1015089/0000891618-96-000684.txt |url-status=live }} and had signed with Gruner and Jahr to do a German edition to be headquartered in Berlin.{{Cite web |date=1996-06-24 |title="Wired" to launch German Edition |url=https://adage.com/article/news/wired-launch-german-edition/2066 |website=AdAge |access-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430195525/https://adage.com/article/news/wired-launch-german-edition/2066 |url-status=live }} And it began work on Wired TV in partnership with MSNBC,{{Cite news |last=Evenson |first=Laura |date=1996-06-29 |title=MSNBC To Launch 'Netizen' / Political show is locally based |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/MSNBC-To-Launch-Netizen-Political-show-is-3499643.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924030253/https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/MSNBC-To-Launch-Netizen-Political-show-is-3499643.php |archive-date=2020-09-24 |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=SFGate |language=en |issn=1932-8672}} as well as three new magazine titles: a shelter book called Neo to be edited by Wired Editor-At-Large Katrina Heron and designed by Rhonda Rubenstein; a business magazine called The New Economy; and a concept magazine with New York design star Tibor Kalman focusing on the countdown to the new millennium.{{Cite magazine |last=Wieners |first=Brad |title=Color Him a Provocateur |url=https://www.wired.com/1996/12/kalman/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194023/https://www.wired.com/1996/12/kalman/ |url-status=live }}

In 1996, reacting to the IPOs of web competitors Yahoo, Lycos, Excite, and Infoseek, Wired Ventures announced its own IPO. It selected the leading East Coast investment bank Goldman Sachs and the leading West Coast bank Robertson Stephens as co-leads, with Goldman managing. Scheduled to go out in June, the IPO was postponed when the market declined days before. When it finally went out in October, Goldman was unable to close the round following another market downturn, and Wired withdrew its IPO.

Fingerpointing followed. Some observers claimed the market rejected Wired's $293 million "internet valuation", as too rich for what was a traditional publishing company.{{Cite news |last=Fisher |first=Lawrence M. |date=1996-06-14 |title=Market Place;Wired, going public, is a real company, but makes no profit. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/14/business/market-place-wired-going-public-is-a-real-company-but-makes-no-profit.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194023/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/14/business/market-place-wired-going-public-is-a-real-company-but-makes-no-profit.html |url-status=live }} Wired replied that its valuation was confirmed by savvy private investors who put $12.5 million into the company in May{{Cite news |last=Sloan |first=Allan |date=1996-06-10 |title=HIP AND HYPED, WIRED VENTURES ISN'T AN IPO TO GET WORKED UP ABOUT |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1996/06/11/hip-and-hyped-wired-ventures-isnt-an-ipo-to-get-worked-up-about/b81acf47-3c61-4429-83bd-1219c18b2e3f/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} at just under the original offering stock price. They also argued that the offering price was set by the bankers, and was merited since it pioneered web media, and its revenue at Hotwired was greater than Yahoo when it went public at a higher valuation than Wired's.{{Cite web |last=Duggan |first=Wayne |date=2018-04-12 |title=This Day In Market History: The Yahoo! IPO |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/day-market-history-yahoo-ipo-160806008.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Yahoo Finance |language=en-US}} For their part, Wired executives blamed Goldman for mismanaging their IPO, and then failing the company by not closing the round which already had investors booked. The Goldman executive who managed the IPO is quoted as saying "Had the market not been so volatile, I believe the offering would have been quite successful."{{Cite news |last=Useem |first=Jerry |date=1998-02-04 |title=All Dressed Up and No IPO: The Story of a Failed Offering |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB886549600123598500 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006214237/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB886549600123598500 |archive-date=2017-10-06 |access-date=2024-04-29 |work=The Wall Street Journal |language=en |issn=0099-9660}}

Goldman's failure left Wired Ventures cash-strapped. It turned to its current investor Tudor Investment Corporation. Tudor brought on Providence Equity Capital, concluding a private funding at the end of December 1996.{{Cite news |last=Hardy |first=Quentin |date=1997-01-03 |title=Wired Ventures Secures $21.5 Million in Financing |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB852251765900900500 |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The Wall Street Journal |language=en-US |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194023/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB852251765900900500 |url-status=live }} Wired then proceeded to cut costs by focusing on its US magazine and web businesses, shutting its UK magazine, its book company, and its TV operation, and terminating work on new magazines. By June, Wired magazine was profitable. The web company, now rebranded Wired Digital, was growing.{{Cite news |last=Harmon |first=Amy |date=1997-08-04 |title=Fast Times at Wired Hit a Speed Bump |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/04/business/fast-times-at-wired-hit-a-speed-bump.html |access-date=2024-04-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194638/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/04/business/fast-times-at-wired-hit-a-speed-bump.html |url-status=live }} Wired execs wanted to try to go public again in 1998, catching what was to be the second runup in internet stocks which resulted in the 1999 dot-com bubble. In 1996, Wired Digital made up 7 percent of the company's revenues, and in 1997 it pulled in 30 percent. The unit was expected to contribute about 40 percent of revenues in 1998.{{Cite web |date=1998-05-08 |title=Condé Nast nabs Wired |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/cond-eacute-nast-nabs-wired/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=CNET |language=en |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194639/https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/cond-eacute-nast-nabs-wired/ |url-status=live }}

Providence and Tudor had other plans, and hired Lazard Freres to shop the company. Rossetto and Metcalfe lost control of Wired Ventures in March 1998. The Street.com commented that a "company that started out as one of the more promising bastions of the digital revolution lost control to old-fashioned vulture capitalism".{{Cite web |last=Kelleher |first=Kevin |date=1999-02-17 |title=Wired Shareholders War Over Lycos Proceeds |url=https://www.thestreet.com/technology/wired-shareholders-war-over-lycos-proceeds-718137 |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=TheStreet |language=en-us |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194639/https://www.thestreet.com/technology/wired-shareholders-war-over-lycos-proceeds-718137 |url-status=live }}

Providence/Tudor quickly cut a deal to sell the magazine to Miller Publishing for $77 million. When Wired Ventures investor Condé Nast heard about the deal through a leak to a Silicon Valley gossip columnist,{{Cite web |last=Hudson |first=David |date=1998-05-11 |title=Snapped up by the Jaws of the Mediasaurus |url=https://www.telepolis.de/features/Snapped-up-by-the-Jaws-of-the-Mediasaurus-3411621.html |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=Telepolis |language=de |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429194639/https://www.telepolis.de/features/Snapped-up-by-the-Jaws-of-the-Mediasaurus-3411621.html |url-status=live }} they peremptorily outbid Miller and bought Wired magazine for $90 million. The month of the sale, Wired’s magazine and web businesses became cashflow positive. Condé Nast declined to buy Wired Digital. Four months later, Providence/Tudor sold Wired Digital to Lycos.

The deal almost did not close. Wired Ventures's founders and early investors threatened lawsuits against Tudor and Providence for breach of fiduciary responsibility, claiming they were engaging in unfair distribution of proceeds from the sale amounting to $50-100 million. Ultimately, the controlling investors relented, and the deal closed in June 1999 for $285 million. At that point, Wired Digital was also cashflow positive. Combined proceeds of the two sales exceeded the Wired Ventures valuation at the time of its failed IPO.

Rossetto's penultimate issue was five years after his first, in January 1998. Appropriately, the issue was entitled "Change is Good", Wired's unofficial slogan. In his last issue in February, he ushered in a complete redesign of the magazine, the first since its start.{{Cite news |last=ARMSTRONG |first=DAVID |title=Rossetto era ends at Wired |url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/rossetto-era-ends-at-wired-3091015.php |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=SFGATE |language=en |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430194024/https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/rossetto-era-ends-at-wired-3091015.php |url-status=live }} Katrina Heron became Wired’s second editor-in-chief with the March 1998 issue.File:Wired Wilco.jpg at the Wired Rave Awards in 2003]]

Wired magazine's new owner Condé Nast kept the editorial offices in San Francisco, but moved the business offices to New York. Wired survived the dot-com bubble under the business leadership of publisher Drew Schutte who expanded the brands reach by launching The Wired Store{{Cite web |title=Wired to Open Gadget Store in NYC |url=https://betanews.com/2005/11/01/wired-to-open-gadget-store-in-nyc/ |access-date=2023-12-08 |website=Betanews |date=November 2005 |language=en-US |archive-date=December 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208194236/https://betanews.com/2005/11/01/wired-to-open-gadget-store-in-nyc/ |url-status=live }} and Wired NextFest. In 2001 Wired found new editorial direction under editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, making the magazine's coverage "more mainstream".{{Cite news |last= Clifford |first= Stephanie |title= Wired Struggles to Find Niche in Magazine World |work= The New York Times |location= New York |access-date= June 23, 2011 |date= May 18, 2009 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/business/media/18wired.html?pagewanted=all |df= mdy-all |archive-date= August 30, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230830185737/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/business/media/18wired.html?pagewanted=all |url-status= live }} The print magazine's average page length, however, declined significantly from 1996 to 2001 and then again from 2001 to 2003.{{Cite book |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444314861 |title=The Handbook of Internet Studies |date=April 2011 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-8588-2 |editor-last=Consalvo |editor-first=Mia |edition=1 |pages=19–21 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781444314861 |editor-last2=Ess |editor-first2=Charles |access-date=September 10, 2022 |archive-date=September 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220910053354/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444314861 |url-status=live }}

In 2009, Condé Nast Italia launched the Italian edition of Wired and Wired.it.{{cite web |url= http://mag.sky.it/mag/web_style/2009/03/05/wired_reazioni_in_rete.html |title= Anche l'Italia è Wired: ecco le reazioni dei blogger |work=Sky Italia |date= March 5, 2009 |language= it |access-date= December 5, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090307230344/http://mag.sky.it/mag/web_style/2009/03/05/wired_reazioni_in_rete.html |archive-date= March 7, 2009 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }} On April 2, 2009, Condé Nast relaunched the UK edition of Wired, edited by David Rowan, and launched Wired.co.uk.{{cite news |url= http://www.paidcontent.co.uk/entry/419-wired.co.uk-goes-live-ahead-of-april-2-mag-relaunch/ |title= Wired.co.uk Goes Live Ahead Of April 2 Mag Relaunch |last= Andrews |first= Robert |date= March 26, 2009 |work= PaidContent:UK |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091125213945/http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-wired.co.uk-goes-live-ahead-of-april-2-mag-relaunch/ |archive-date= November 25, 2009 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all |access-date= March 31, 2009 }}

In 2006, Condé Nast repurchased Wired Digital from Lycos, returning the website to the same company that published the magazine, reuniting the brand.

In August 2023, Katie Drummond was announced as the new editor of Wired.{{Cite news |date=2023-08-10 |title=Wired Names Katie Drummond as Its Next Leader |work=The New York Times |language=en |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/business/media/wired-katie-drummond.html |access-date=2023-08-21 |archive-date=August 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821004544/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/business/media/wired-katie-drummond.html |url-status=live |last1=Robertson |first1=Katie }}

In 2025, during the second presidency of Donald Trump, Wired became noted for breaking numerous stories about the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).{{Cite web |last=Burch |first=Sean |date=2025-02-07 |title=Wired Establishes Itself as the Digital Thorn in Elon Musk's Side |url=https://www.thewrap.com/wired-elon-musk-engineers-breaking-news/ |website=TheWrap |language=en-US}} Musk criticized the magazine, saying Wired "went from being about technology to being an unreadable, far-left wing propaganda mouthpiece."

Wired{{’}}s web presence started with its launch of Hotwired.com in October 1994. Hotwired was the first website with original content and Fortune 500 advertising. Hotwired grew into a variety of vertical content sites, including Webmonkey, Ask Dr. Weil, Talk.com, WiredNews, and the search engine Hotbot. In 1997, all were rebranded under Wired Digital. The Wired.com website, formerly known as Wired News and Hotwired, launched in October 1994.Jeffrey Veen, HotWired Style, 1997, pp. 14–15. The website and magazine were split in 1998, when the former was sold to Condé Nast and the latter to Lycos{{Cite magazine |title=Lycos Acquires Wired Digital |url=https://www.wired.com/1998/10/lycos-acquires-wired-digital/ |magazine=Wired |date=6 October 1998 |issn=1059-1028 |access-date=2024-04-22 |language=en-US |archive-date=April 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422212337/https://www.wired.com/1998/10/lycos-acquires-wired-digital/ |url-status=live }} in September 1998. The two remained independent until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006.{{cite web |url= http://www.wired.com/news_drop/palmpilot/ |title= WN: Wired News |date= December 30, 2005 |work=Wired News |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051230020736/http://www.wired.com/news_drop/palmpilot/ |archive-date= December 30, 2005 |df= mdy-all }} This move finally reunited the Wired brand.

As of February 2018, Wired.com is paywalled. Users may only access a limited number of articles per month without payment.{{Cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Eric |date=February 1, 2018 |title=Paywalls make content better, Wired editor Nick Thompson says |url=https://www.recode.net/2018/2/1/16957324/wired-paywall-nick-thompson-magazine-advertising-subscription-peter-kafka-recode-media-podcast |archive-date=March 3, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180303050514/https://www.recode.net/2018/2/1/16957324/wired-paywall-nick-thompson-magazine-advertising-subscription-peter-kafka-recode-media-podcast |url-status=dead |work=Recode |access-date= March 2, 2018 |df=mdy-all}}

Today, Wired.com hosts several technology blogs on topics in security, business, new products, culture, and science.

; NextFest{{Anchor|NexFest}}File:Wired nextfest logo.png

From 2004 to 2008, Wired organized an annual "festival of innovative products and technologies".{{cite magazine |title=Wired Nextfest |url=http://www.wirednextfest.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427012231/http://www.wirednextfest.com/ |archive-date=April 27, 2009 |magazine=Wired |df=mdy-all }} A NextFest for 2009 was canceled.{{cite web |last=Moses |first=Lucia |date=July 31, 2009 |title=Wired Magazine Cancels NextFest |url=http://www.adweek.com/news/press/wired-magazine-cancels-nextfest-113047 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830191318/https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/wired-magazine-cancels-nextfest-113047/ |archive-date=August 30, 2023 |url-status=live |work=Adweek |access-date=October 15, 2015 |df=mdy-all}} In 2018, Wired hosted "Wired 25", a celebration of its 25 years, an event which included Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey, and many of the other founders of the tech industry.

{{Expand section|date=May 2024}}

File:Geekipedia.jpg

"Geekipedia: 149 People, Places, Ideas and Trends you need to know now" was a one-off paperback supplement to WIRED 15.09 published on January 1, 2007.{{Cite magazine |title=Geekipedia |url=https://www.wired.com/culture/geekipedia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020201650/http://www.wired.com/culture/geekipedia/ |archive-date=October 20, 2013 |url-status=live |magazine=Wired |date=February 13, 2007 |access-date=July 22, 2012 |df=mdy-all}}

Wired{{'}}s writers have included 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.

Guest editors have included 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.

• Hack Canada (1998) organization run by hackers and phreakers
• "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us"
• Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog

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• {{Cite mailing list |last=O'Brien |first=Dan |title=Wired UK : A Limey Whinges |mailing-list=Wired UK Listmaster |date=1997-02-07 |url=https://www.spesh.com/danny/wireduk/ |access-date=2003-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823211059/https://www.spesh.com/danny/wireduk/ |archive-date=2020-08-23 |url-status=live}}
• {{cite book |first=Gary |last=Wolf |year=2003 |title=Wired: A Romance |url=https://archive.org/details/wiredromance00wolf |url-access=registration |publisher=Random House |edition=1st |location=New York City |language=en |lccn=2002036992 |ol=OL3565178M |access-date=2019-11-11 |isbn=978-0-375-50290-3}}

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