14 January 2025

Rich Men Rule the World

Reporter Kate Drummond:

So let me be the first to point it out: There is more testosterone in this issue than the last decade of People’s Sexiest Man Alive editions combined.

In part, that’s a reality borne of circumstance: 87 percent of billionaires around the world are men, and women continue to be vastly, outrageously outranked in executive positions within the tech industry. None of that even begins to account for racial diversity, which paints an even bleaker picture. And it’s one likely to continue apace, as tech giants like Meta and Google chip away at their DEI investments. Meanwhile, the online manosphere—newly emboldened by President Trump and his First Buddy Musk—continues to metastasize in scope and influence. . ."

Katie Drummond

Business

Jan 13, 2025 6:00 AM

Rich Men Rule the World

The holders of the vast majority of the world’s wealth? Men. So many men—from Trump and Musk and Putin to every CEO, crypto schmo, and solar bro in between.

WIRED

23 hours ago

Whenever I get a new job, the first thing I do is call my dad. And the first thing he asks me is: How much are they paying you? The man’s obsession with dollars and cents is lore in the Drummond family.

But his zealous interest in the size of my paycheck is for very good reason: Money runs the world, after all, whether you have any or not. So, Mr. Drummond figures, you may as well try to make as much as you can.

. . .But I’ll take ownership too. At WIRED, it’s our failure of editorial foresight and imagination to have seen the obvious—the blatant, persistent masculinity, page after page—only at the last minute. To not have, earlier in our assigning process, decided to interrogate the fraught and fractured gender dynamics of wealth accumulation, of corporate influence, of power. All of which still, infuriatingly, belong nearly exclusively to people with penises, with boardroom-commanding baritones, and with a centuries-long head start.

Don’t get me wrong: You’ll enjoy this issue, both in print and online. We hope you learn a thing or two about how the big bucks in tech are being amassed and spent, and the people—the men—amassing and spending them. But from one woman in charge to all the guys out there, including those featured in our pages: It might be a rich man’s world for now, but trust me, women like money too. And we’re coming to take some of yours.

Let us know what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor at mail@wired.com.

Katie Drummond

Global Editorial Director

Katie Drummond is the global editorial director of WIRED, leading content strategy for the brand across all platforms and markets. Prior to joining WIRED, Drummond was the senior vice president of global news and entertainment at Vice, where she led the global expansion of Vice News across Latin America, Europe, and Asia and oversaw all Vice digital brands, including Noisey, Munchies, Rec Room, Motherboard, and Waypoint. Previously, Drummond held key leadership positions at several high-profile media outlets, including as deputy editor of Bloomberg.com and editor in chief of Gizmodo.

Drummond graduated from Queen’s University in Canada with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. She resides in Brooklyn.