n.
- A smoked herring having a reddish color.
- Something that draws attention away from the central issue.
[From its use to distract hunting dogs from the trail.]
Saturday, April 15, 2006
red_herring
Quick Definition: something that draws attention away from the central issue; distraction
red herring
n.
Mentioned In
n.
red herring
- Something that draws attention away from the central issue, as in Talking about the new plant is a red herring to keep us from learning about downsizing plans. The herring in this expression is red and strong-smelling from being preserved by smoking. The idiom alludes to dragging a smoked herring across a trail to cover up the scent and throw off tracking dogs. [Late 1800s]
Red Herring
A preliminary registration statement that must be filed with the SEC describing a new issue of stock (IPO) and the prospects of the issuing company.
Investopedia Says: There is no price or issue size stated in the red herring, and it is sometimes updated several times before being called the final prospectus. It is known as a red herring because it contains a passage in red that states the company is not attempting to sell their shares before the registration is approved by the SEC.
See Also: Gun Jumping, IPO, Issuer, Prospectus, SEC, Tombstone, Underwriting
Related Links:
Learn to decipher the secret language of the prospectus - it can tell you a lot about a company's future. Don't Forget To Read The Prospectus!
What's an IPO, and how did everybody get so rich off them during the dot-com boom? We give you the scoop. IPO Basics Tutorial
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.
The noun red herring has 2 meanings:
Meaning #1: any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue
Meaning #2: a dried and smoked herring having a reddish color
Synonym: smoked herring
Red Herring (magazine)
Red Herring is an Internet technology and financial news magazine, sponsor of technology business conferences and publisher of financial research papers. It is based in Belmont, California.
History
Red Herring was originally launched in May 1993 by Anthony B. Perkins, Christopher J. Alden, and Zachary A. Herlick out of the home of Mr. Alden's parents in Woodside, California. The first product of Flipside Communications Inc. (which was eventually renamed Red Herring Communications), the magazine was quickly popular with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and the Valley community of lawyers, accountants, bankers and the like who were part of the technology entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Although not launched as an Internet publication (the commercialization of the Internet was in its infancy in 1993), as one of the leading publications covering high-tech entrepreneurialism in Silicon Valley and beyond, it became a journal of record for the dot com boom. The founders sold stakes in the magazine to outside investors, but as the dot-com bust deepened, the magazine struggled, ceasing publication in 2003. Later that year, Alex Vieux of Dasar acquired some of the company's assets.
In September 2003, Vieux relaunched the Herring as a website. The first official issue of the relaunched print publication was published in November, 2004. One big change is the absence of bylines for reporters.
Corporate history
Mr. Perkins had previously founded Upside Magazine with Rich Karlgaard (who later became publisher of Forbes). Mr. Alden and Mr. Herlick, friends since junior high school, had started a computer consulting company and taught computer science prior to partnering with Mr. Perkins.
Ron Conway, of Angel Investors, was an early advisor and board member.
Red Herring launched an event and an Internet division on the same day in May 1995 when Venture Market West premiered in Monterey, California, accompanied by the company's first web site. The Venture Market series (including West, East, South, and Europe) ran successfully until 2001 and were accompanied by other events, such as NDA, Venture, and Herring on Hollywood.
The Internet operation grew steadily and peaked in 2000 when it acquired Stockmaster.com.
Ziff Davis invested $2 million in Red Herring in 1997 for approximately 10% of the company, with Eric Hippeau, then CEO of ZD, joining the Red Herring board. Scott Briggs, a former president of Ziff Davis, joined the board in 1997 as well. Broadview Capital Partners invested $25 million into Red Herring in 2000, with Steven Brooks and Stephen Bachman joining the board.
Red Herring was joined in the late 1990s by competitors such as IDG's The Industry Standard, Imagine Media's Business 2.0, and Time Warner's eCompany Now. It was also compared to Wired magazine and Fast Company.
Hilary Schneider was hired by the board as CEO in late 2000 and succeeded Mr. Alden (who succeeded Mr. Perkins as CEO).
Red Herring's revenues peaked in 2000, nearing $100 million with a staff around 350, but contracted significantly in 2001 and 2002. BCP invested in several additional rounds to help stabilize the organization, which went through several rounds of layoffs. Through these financings BCP obtained control of Red Herring and in 2002 put the company through an assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC), which is a California state process similar to a federal bankruptcy. RHC Media, owned by BCP, bought the Red Herring assets out of ABC and kept the business operating.
After trying unsuccessfully to sell the company, RHC Media decided in early 2003 to cease operations and sell the company's assets. The subscription obligation was sold to Time Inc. and the Red Herring brand, URL, and IP (such as back issues and online content) were sold to Alex Vieux of Dasar.
However, despite the web-only relaunch, by mid 2005 money was running out. Freelance journalists, who as mentioned above were no longer bylined, remained unpaid in many cases.
Staff
Editor in Chief - Joel Dreyfuss
Reporters and editors on staff as of June 2005: Bronwyn Barnett, Falguni Bhuta, Lee Bruno, Brian Caulfield, Eydie Cubarrubia, Katie Fehrenbacher, John Fitzgibbon, Liz Gannes, Priya Ganapati, Alex Gronke, Alex Haislip, Jennifer Kho, Kaiser Kuo, Greg Lewicki, Cassimir Medford, Alex Pang, Anna Petherick, Mitch Ratcliffe, Mike Cohn, Jennifer Schenker, Priyanka Sharma-Sindhar, Ucilia Wang.
Former reporters and editors: Ryan Blitstein, Richard Brandt, Michael V. Copeland, Kenneth Neil Cukier, Jim Daly, David Diamond, Michael Fitzgerald, Marc Frochtzweig, Kim Girard, Beverly Goodman, Debbie Gravitz, Stephan Herrera, Wellington Biff Chang, Lisa Kalis, Vishesh Kumar, Robert LaFranco, David Lipschultz, Om Malik, Duff McDonald, Niall McKay, Mark Mowrey, Heather Moylan, Jason Pontin, Bonnie Powell, Mark Powelson, Jared Simpson, Irina Slutsky, David Speakman, Tom Stein and G. Pascal Zachary.
External link
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Mentioned In red_herring is mentioned in the following topics:
| Crossed Red Herring Award | herring soup |
| Red Herring Surf | red herring |
| Red Herring Artists | Crime Writers' Association |
| 51QB | neither fish nor fowl (Idiom) |
| ignoratio elenchi | David Lipschultz |
| More |
