Wolfgang Blau, the Guardian’s director of digital strategy, is joining Vogue and Vanity Fair publisher Condé Nast International as chief digital officer.
Blau, who has worked at the Guardian since 2013 and serves on the executive committee, will take up the new role on 1 December.
“Wolfgang brings a commitment to journalistic excellence, a deep knowledge of all things digital and international scope to the position. He is the ideal person to take on this hugely important role,” said Jonathan Newhouse, the publisher’s chairman and chief executive.
Blau will take on responsibility for digital activities across Condé Nast International’s portfolio of magazines, which include GQ and Wired, as well as joining the publisher’s executive committee.
“I am delighted to take on this new assignment,” said Blau. “As a family owned journalistic enterprise, Condé Nast has enormous resources and talent and has a rare, long-term perspective. This presents a unique opportunity.”
“My two-and-a-half years at The Guardian have been very exciting, from the Snowden story which broke only a few weeks after I joined, to our work together on the Guardian’s new sites and apps, the hustings for a new chief editor and our climate change campaign earlier this year - all of it was a privilege to be part of. I will remain a close friend of The Guardian in years to come.”
Blau previously edited Zeit Online – the digital publication of the weekly German newspaper Die Zeit – for five years. Some of his responsibilities at the Guardian will be taken on by acting chief digital officer Aron Pilhofer.
He was one of four internal candidates to apply for the role of editor-in-chief of the Guardian in early 2015.
