Guardian and US Wired ‘close to settling dispute’

The Guardian and Wired Ventures, the US founders of Wired magazine, are understood to

be close to resolving their dis-pute over the UK version of the magazine.

Negotiations between Wired Ventures’ US president, Jane Metcalfe, and Guardian representatives are likely to lead to the scrapping of a second court hearing planned for this week.

However, The Guardian may be forced to accept a reduction in its shareholding in the 50:50 joint venture.

Wired Ventures failed to win an injunction preventing the publication of the July/August issue of UK Wired.

It was preparing a second submission this week to a judge that, if successful, would have stalled publication until a full trial at a future date.

But sources close to the negotiations understand that both parties have committed themselves to keeping the magazine going in the UK and building on the high profile launch, revealed exclusively in Marketing Week .

One option is for The Guardian to accept less than 50 per cent of the joint venture company and to see more editorial control in Wired Ventures’ hands.