Wired Editor to Headline Business Forecast Lunch

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine and author of the best-selling book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, will give the keynote speech at the 16th annual Business Forecast Luncheon June 2.

Anderson will be discussing his new book, Free, and the future of business.

In Free, Anderson makes the case that in many instances businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them. One engine driving this trend is the rapid decline in costs associated with the growing online economy, he argues. For instance, a single transistor cost $10 in 1961, but now Intel's latest chip with two billion transistors sells for $300.

Anderson's first book, The Long Tail, won the prestigious Loeb Award in 2007 as the best business book of the year and Anderson was named one of the “Time 100,” the news magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In The Long Tail, published in 2006, Anderson demonstrated how the online marketplace creates niche markets, allowing products and consumers to connect in a way never possible before.

Since becoming editor-in-chief of Wired in 2001, the magazine received nine National Magazine Award nominations and won the top prize for general excellence in 2007 and 2005, a year in which Anderson also was named editor of the year by Advertising Age magazine.

Anderson went to Wired from The Economist, where he served as US business editor, Asia business editor, and technology editor. He also started The Economist’s Internet coverage and directed its initial web strategy.

The luncheon will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. The deadline to register is Friday, May 29. To register, visit haas.berkeley.edu/alumni/bfl. The cost is $45 for alumni, $30 for annual fund donors, $50 for non-alumni guests; $35 for recent graduates; $25 for students; and complimentary for faculty and senior staff. A corporate/group table costs $450 and sponsoring a student costs $25.

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