In April, 2014, Nikolaus Röttger will take up the post of editor-in-chief of the German version of the magazine. The editorial offices will be in Berlin.
“There are few media brands that can boast as much potential for the future as WIRED. After a test phase in the German market, we are now moving forward with development of a full cross-media concept,” says Moritz von Laffert, president of Condé Nast Germany and vice president of Condé Nast International, “I’m delighted that in Nikolaus Röttger, we have found the perfect person for this exciting new stage of development. He is a distinguished journalist and completely at home in the digital and start-up arena.”
“WIRED is one of the most fascinating media brands in the world and an icon in the digital scene,” says Nikolaus Röttger, “Helping to create and shape WIRED from the very beginning during this intense phase of developing it for the German market is a challenge I am very much looking forward to.”
WIRED Germany will launch in October 2014, with ten print issues planned per year, as well as an overall digital concept. Integrated cross-media editorial offices will be headquartered in a new Berlin location. Von Laffert remarked that “Berlin is the capital of innovation and start-ups for Germany, perhaps even Europe, making it the place where a brand like WIRED should plant its roots.”
Nikolaus Röttger is currently editor-in-chief of Gruenderszene.de, the specialist online magazine for the start-up scene and the digital industry. Before that he spent eight years in various positions with Gruner + Jahr business media. While at G+J, he developed the magazine Business Punk and held the top spot on its masthead from the launch in 2009 until 2013. Röttger began his career with a journalism internship at Financial Times Deutschland, later working as an editor and columnist for the business newspaper.
He has also worked at Yahoo, Sueddeutsche.de, and Jetzt.de, among others. Röttger studied political science, economics, and sociology in Munich and Bradford, England.
Nikolaus Röttger is taking over as editor-in-chief of WIRED Germany from Alexander von Streit, who headed the magazine during the test phase of four issues, and who will now devote more time to new projects. Moritz von Laffert said of the outgoing editor “I want to thank Alexander von Streit for the good collaboration and the important contribution he made to establishing the WIRED brand in Germany.”
