Nicholas Thompson (editor)

Nicholas Thompson is an American journalist and editor, currently the editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine.

Before that, Thompson was a journalist at The New Yorker magazine, where he was the editor of newyorker.com. Previously, he was a senior editor at the magazine. He gave an interview in November 2015, where he said that the main strategy the website had for growing traffic was to put more time into editing better stories. "“The most encouraging thing we found is that the stories we’re prouder of, the stories we put more effort into, attract more readers," he said.

He is also a contributor for CBS News and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Thompson is the author of The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War. The Washington Times said his book "May be the most important political biography in recent memory.” The Washington Post called it "Brilliant."

He is also one of three founders of The Atavist, a digital publishing company, whose investors include Eric Schmidt, Andreessen-Horowitz, and Barry Diller. The Atavist won the 2014 National Magazine Award for feature writing, and a number of its stories have been optioned by Hollywood studios.

Prior to the New Yorker, Thompson was a senior editor at Wired for 5 years. While there, he assigned and edited "Vanish" by Evan Ratliff, which was nominated for a National Magazine Award, as well as "The Great Escape," the story which was optioned by George Clooney and then turned into the movie Argo.

Before that, he was a Senior Editor at Legal Affairs and an editor at the Washington Monthly. He is a former fellow at the New America Foundation and a former contributing editor at CNN International. He has written about politics, technology, and the law for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, The New York Observer, and many other publications. In addition to his regular work with Bloomberg TV, he was also a frequent guest on CNN’s American Morning and NBC’s Today Show. He has also appeared as a commentator on Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC’s Live with Regis and Kelly and World News Tonight, CBS’s Early Show, and National Public Radio.

Thompson is a grandson of Paul Nitze, one of the subjects of his most recent book, which gave him unprecedented access while researching his book. In March 2013, Thompson received a 21st Century Leader award from the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. He is also an acoustic guitarist and has released three albums of original instrumental music. He is a graduate of Stanford University, where he was vice president of the student government.