Wired names Lichfield its editorial director

MIT Technology Review editor in chief Gideon Lichfield has been named editorial director of Wired magazine.

He replaces Nicholas Thompson, who left to run The Atlantic. Lichfield will start on March 22.

“Wired is iconic, and it’s been pivotal to shaping technology’s place in the culture,” said Lichfield in a statement. “I’m proud of the work I’ve done with the great team at MIT Technology Review, but I’m thrilled to be given the chance to work with the excellent journalists at Wired and continue evolving its legacy.”

Lichfield has been senior editor for business news at Quartz before joining MIT Technology Review in December 2017.

Lichfield oversaw all of the Review’s editorial content and products, including the website, digital newsletters, print magazine, and live events, as well as new platforms and formats under development.

Lichfield joined Quartz’s founding team in 2012 as global news editor. Before Quartz, Lichfield worked for 16 years as a journalist at The Economist, including postings in Mexico City, Moscow, and Jerusalem.

Wired magazine is owned by Conde Nast and started in 1993.

Wired reaches 44 million people each month, including 7.5 million subscribers on Youtube (26% growth YoY) making it the largest Science & Tech channel from a global media company on the platform. The last year saw 15% growth in traffic to Wired’s culture defining reporting with a 37% YoY increase in total engaged minutes.