Kai Diekmann
Former Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of BILD
Kai Diekmann was born in Ravensburg (Germany) on 27 June 1964. Till January 2017 he was publishing director of BILD. For 15 years prior to this, he was editor-in-chief of BILD.
BILD is Europe's biggest news brand, reaching 39 million readers and users each month with its print and online editions.
Following secondary school and military service, Kai Diekmann completed a two-year traineeship at publishing house Axel Springer, which brought him to Hamburg, Bonn, and New York. In 1987, Diekmann became a parliamentary correspondent for BILD and BILD am SONNTAG in Bonn. In 1989, he served as chief reporter for magazine Bunte in Munich.
Two years later, he made his way to Berlin, where he became the B.Z.’s deputy editor-in-chief. Soon after, Diekmann was appointed deputy editor-in-chief and head of the politics department at BILD. He remained in this position for five years.
After a long stay Central America, Diekmann returned to Axel Springer in 1998 as the editor-in-chief of WELT am SONNTAG. In 2001, he was appointed editor-in-chief of BILD and publisher of BILD and BILD am SONNTAG.
From 2012 to 2013, Diekmann spent 10 months in Silicon Valley. His time on the US West Coast, on behalf of Axel Springer, was spent developing new entrepreneurial ideas for digital growth.
From 2004 to 2018, Diekmann has been an independent member of the board of directors of Hürriyet; since 2011 he has served as non-executive director of the London Times; since 2017 member of the Public Policy Advisory Board, UBER, San Francisco. Since November 2017, he is also Chairman of the Freundeskreis Yad Vashem in Germany e.V.
Apart from that he served since 2002 as board member for the “Atlantikbrücke”, the leading association to promote German - American understanding.
Since 2012 he is as well board member for the “Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur“ in Bonn.
Kai Diekmann is today the founder and shareholder of the Deutscher Zukunftsfonds and the Social Media Company Storymachine.
Diekmann has written and edited several books. He is married and has four children.
