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Scribd
Scribd Inc. /ˈskrɪbd/ is an American e-book and audiobook
subscription service that includes one million titles.[1][2][3][4] Scribd, Inc.
Scribd hosts 60 million documents on its open publishing
platform.[5]
Founded in 2007 by Trip Adler, Jared Friedman, and Tikhon Type of Private
Bernstam, and headquartered in San Francisco, California, the business
company is backed by Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Charles Available in English, French,
River Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures.[6] Scribd's e-book
German,
subscription service is available on Android and iOS
Indonesian, Italian,
smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and
personal computers. Subscribers can access unlimited books a Portuguese,
month[7] from 1,000 publishers, including Bloomsbury, Romanian,
Harlequin, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Russian, Spanish
Planet, Macmillan, Perseus Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Founded March 2007
Wiley, and Workman.[8][9]
Headquarters San Francisco,
Scribd has 80 million users, and has been referred to as "the California, US
Netflix for books".[10][11][12] Founder(s) Trip Adler
Jared Friedman
Tikhon Bernstam
Contents Key people Trip Adler
(co-founder and
History
CEO)
Founding (2007–2013)
Jared Friedman
References
External links
History
Founding (2007–2013)
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Scribd was called "the YouTube for documents", allowing anyone to self-publish on the site using its
document reader.[13] The document reader turns PDFs, Word documents, and PowerPoints into Web
documents that can be shared on any website that allows embeds.[16] In its first year, Scribd grew
rapidly to 23.5 million visitors as of November 2008.[17] It also ranked as one of the top 20 social
media sites according to Comscore.[17]
In June 2009, Scribd launched the Scribd Store, enabling writers to easily upload and sell digital
copies of their work online.[18] That same month, the site partnered with Simon & Schuster to sell e-
books on Scribd.[19] The deal made digital editions of 5,000 titles available for purchase on Scribd,
including books from bestselling authors like Stephen King, Dan Brown, and Mary Higgins Clark.[20]
In October 2009, Scribd launched its branded reader for media companies including The New York
Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, and MediaBistro.[16]
ProQuest began publishing dissertations and theses on Scribd in December 2009.[21] In August 2010,
many notable documents hosted on Scribd began to go viral, including the California Proposition 8
ruling, which received over 100,000 views in about 24 minutes, and HP's lawsuit against Mark
Hurd's move to Oracle.[22][23]
In May 2014, Scribd further increased its subscription offering with 10,000 titles from Simon &
Schuster.[27] These titles included works from authors such as: Ray Bradbury, Doris Kearns Goodwin,
Ernest Hemingway, Walter Isaacson, Stephen King, Chuck Klosterman, and David McCullough.[28]
Scribd added audiobooks to its subscription service in November 2014 and comic books in February
2015.[3][29]
In February 2016, it was announced that only titles from a rotating selection of the library would be
available for unlimited reading, and subscribers would have credits to read three books and one
audiobook per month from the entire library with unused credits rolling over to the next month.[30]
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The reporting system was discontinued on February 6, 2018, in favor of a system of "constantly
rotating catalogs of ebooks and audiobooks" that provided "an unlimited number of books and
audiobooks, alongside unlimited access to news, magazines, documents, and sheet music"[31] for a
monthly subscription fee of US$8.99.[32] However, under this unlimited service, Scribd would
occasionally "limit the titles that you’re able to access within a specific content library in a 30-day
period."[33]
In October 2018, Scribd announced a joint subscription to Scribd and The New York Times for
$12.99 per month.
Audiobooks
In November 2014, Scribd added audiobooks to its subscription library.[34] Wired noted that this was
the first subscription service to offer unlimited access to audiobooks, and "it represents a much larger
shift in the way digital content is consumed over the net."[35] In April 2015, the company expanded
its audiobook catalog in a deal with Penguin Random House.[36] This added 9,000 audiobooks to its
platform including titles from authors like Lena Dunham, John Grisham, Gillian Flynn, and George
R.R. Martin.[37]
Comics
In February 2015, Scribd introduced comics to its subscription service.[38] The company added
10,000 comics and graphic novels from publishers including Marvel, Archie, Boom! Studios,
Dynamite, IDW, and Valiant.[29] These included series such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Daredevil,
X-O Manowar, and The Avengers.[39][40] However, in December 2016, comics were eliminated from
the service due to low demand.
Timeline
In February 2010, Scribd unveiled its first mobile plans for e-readers and smartphones.[41] In April
2010 Scribd launched a new feature called "Readcast",[42] which allows automatic sharing of
documents on Facebook and Twitter.[43] Also in April 2010, Scribd announced its integration of
Facebook social plug-ins at the Facebook f8 Developer Conference.[44]
Scribd rolled out a redesign on September 13, 2010 to become, according to TechCrunch, "the social
network for reading".[45]
In October 2013, Scribd launched its e-book subscription service, allowing readers to pay a flat
monthly fee in exchange for unlimited access to all of Scribd's book titles.[46]
In August 2020, Scribd announced its acquisition of the LinkedIn-owned SlideShare for an
undisclosed amount. [47]
Financials
The company was initially funded with US$120,000 from Y Combinator in 2006, and received over
US$3.7 million in June 2007 from Redpoint Ventures and The Kinsey Hills Group.[48][6] In
December 2008, the company raised US$9 million in a second round of funding led by Charles River
Ventures with re-investment from Redpoint Ventures and Kinsey Hills Group.[49] David O. Sacks,
former PayPal COO and founder of Yammer and Geni, joined Scribd's board of directors in January
2010.[50]
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In January 2011, Scribd raised an additional US$13 million in a round led by MLC Investments of
Australia and SVB Capital.[51]
In January 2015, the company raised US$22 million in new funding
from Khosla Ventures with partner Keith Rabois joining the Scribd board of directors.[52]
In 2019, Scribd raised $58 million in new funding led by growth firm Spectrum Equity. [53]
Technology
In July 2008, Scribd began using iPaper, a rich document format similar to PDF and built for the
web, which allows users to embed documents into a web page.[54] iPaper was built with Adobe Flash,
allowing it to be viewed the same across different operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, and Linux)
without conversion, as long as the reader has Flash installed (although Scribd has announced non-
Flash support for the iPhone).[55] All major document types can be formatted into iPaper including
Word docs, PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, OpenDocument documents, OpenOffice.org XML
documents, and PostScript files.
All iPaper documents are hosted on Scribd. Scribd allows published documents to either be private or
open to the larger Scribd community. The iPaper document viewer is also embeddable in any website
or blog, making it simple to embed documents in their original layout regardless of file format. Scribd
iPaper required Flash cookies to be enabled, which is the default setting in Flash.[56]
On May 5, 2010, Scribd announced that they would be converting the entire site to HTML5 at the
Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco.[57] TechCrunch reported that Scribd is migrating away from
Flash to HTML5. "Scribd co-founder and chief technology officer Jared Friedman tells me: 'We are
scrapping three years of Flash development and betting the company on HTML5 because we believe
HTML5 is a dramatically better reading experience than Flash. Now any document can become a
Web page.'"[58][59]
Scribd has its own API to integrate external/third-party applications,[60] but is no longer offering
new API accounts.[61]
Since 2010, Scribd has been available on mobile phones and e-readers, in addition to personal
computers. As of December 2013, Scribd became available on app stores and various mobile devices.
Reception
Scribd has been accused of copyright infringement. In 2007, one year after its inception, Scribd was
served with 25 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices.[62] In March 2009, The
Guardian writes, "Harry Potter author [J.K. Rowling] is among writers shocked to discover their
books available as free downloads. Neil Blair, Rowling’s lawyer, said the Harry Potter downloads were
'unauthorised and unlawful'...Rowling's novels aren't the only ones to be available from Scribd. A
quick search throws up novels from Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett,
Philippa Gregory, and J.R.R. Tolkien."[63] In September 2009, American author Elaine Scott alleged
that Scribd "shamelessly profits from the stolen copyrighted works of innumerable authors".[64] Her
attorneys sought class action status in their efforts to win damages from Scribd for allegedly
"egregious copyright infringement" and accused it of calculated copyright infringement for
profit.[65][66][67] The suit was dropped in July 2010.[68][69]
Controversies
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In March 2009, the passwords of several Comcast customers were leaked on Scribd. The passwords
were later removed when the news was published by The New York Times.[70][71][72]
In July 2010, Gigaom reported that the script of The Social Network (2010) movie was uploaded and
leaked on Scribd; it was promptly taken down per Sony's DMCA request.[73]
Following a decision of the Istanbul 12th Criminal Court of Peace, dated 8 March 2013, access to
Scribd is blocked for Internet users in Turkey.[74]
In July 2014, Scribd was sued by Disability Rights Advocates (represented by Haben Girma), on
behalf of the National Federation of the Blind and a blind Vermont resident, for allegedly failing to
provide access to blind readers, in violation of the Americans with Disability Act.[75] Scribd moved to
dismiss, arguing that the ADA only applied to physical locations. In March 2015, the U.S. District
Court of Vermont ruled that the ADA covered online businesses as well. A settlement agreement was
reached, with Scribd agreeing to provide content accessible to blind readers by the end of 2017.[76]
BookID
See also
Slideshare
Amazon Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited
Document collaboration
Oyster (company)
Wayback Machine
Webcite
References
1. Alter, Alexandra (April 16, 2015). "Scribd Expands Audiobook Catalog in Deal With Penguin
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22. Gannes, Liz (August 4, 2010). "Prop 8 Ruling Is Scribd's Most Viral Doc Ever" (https://gigaom.co
m/2010/08/04/prop-8-ruling-is-scribds-most-viral-doc-ever/). Gigaom.
23. Siegler, M.G. (September 7, 2010). "HP Confirms It Is Suing Mark Hurd For Potential Leakage Of
Trade Secrets To Oracle" (https://techcrunch.com/2010/09/07/mark-hurd-oracle-hp/).
TechCrunch.
24. Bosman, Julie (October 1, 2013). "HarperCollins Joins Scribd in E-Book Subscription Plan" (http
s://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/business/media/harpercollins-pursues-e-book-subscription-servi
ce-with-scribd.html?_r=4&). The New York Times.
25. Ha, Anthony (October 1, 2013). "With HarperCollins Deal, Scribd Unveils Its Bid To Become The
Netflix For Books" (https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/01/scribd-harpercollins-book-subscriptions/?n
cid=tcdaily). TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
26. Ha, Anthony (March 26, 2014). "Scribd's Subscription E-Book Service Moves Into Travel With
The Full Lonely Planet Library" (https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/26/scribd-lonely-planet/).
Techcrunch.
27. Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. (March 21, 2014). "Simon & Schuster, E-Book Services Strike Deal" (http
s://www.wsj.com/articles/simon-schuster-e-book-services-strike-deal-1400639243). The Wall
Street Journal.
28. Owen, Laura Hazard (May 21, 2014). "Simon & Schuster adds its books to ebook subscription
sites Scribd and Oyster" (https://gigaom.com/2014/05/21/simon-schuster-titles-are-now-available-
on-ebook-subscription-sites-scribd-and-oyster/). Gigaom.
29. Ha, Anthony (February 10, 2015). "Scribd Adds Comics From Marvel, IDW, And Others To Its
Subscription E-Book Service" (https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/10/scribd-adds-marvel-comics/).
TechCrunch.
30. "Scribd will change its subscription service from unlimited to semi-unlimited" (http://teleread.com/s
cribd-will-change-subscription-service-unlimited-semi-unlimited/). TeleRead. Retrieved
February 16, 2016.
31. "When did I get unlimited reading?" (https://support.scribd.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000157466-
When-did-I-get-unlimited-reading-). Scribd Help Center. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
32. "Scribd's Membership" (https://support.scribd.com/hc/en-us/articles/210134106-Scribd-s-Member
ship#What-are-the-benefits). Scribd Help Center. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
33. O., Katy (2018-08-28). "How many books can I read each month?" (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0180830014147/https://support.scribd.com/hc/en-us/articles/210135706-How-many-books-can-I-r
ead-each-month-). Scribd Help Center. Archived from the original on 2018-08-30.
34. Kastrenakes, Jacob (November 6, 2014). "Scribd expands its subscription library to include
audiobooks" (https://www.theverge.com/2014/11/6/7164543/scribd-adds-audiobooks-to-ebook-su
bscription-service). The Verge.
35. Metz, Cade (November 6, 2014). "Scribd Rolls Out the Internet's First All-You-Can-Listen
Audiobooks Service" (https://www.wired.com/2014/11/scribd-rolls-internets-first-can-listen-audiob
ooks-service/). Wired.
36. Wright, Mic (April 16, 2015). "Scribd adds 9,000 Penguin Random House audiobooks including
'Game of Thrones' " (https://thenextweb.com/media/2015/04/16/scribd-adds-9000-penguin-rando
m-house-audiobooks-including-game-of-thrones/). The Next Web.
37. Alter, Alexandra (April 16, 2015). "Scribd Expands Audiobook Catalog in Deal With Penguin
Random House" (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/business/media/scribd-expands-audioboo
k-catalog-in-deal-with-penguin-random-house.html?_r=0). The New York Times.
38. Alba, Davey (February 10, 2015). "Scribd Unveils 'Netflix for Comics' " (https://www.wired.com/20
15/02/scribd-comic-books/). Wired.
39. Fiegerman, Seth (February 10, 2015). "Scribd gains the superpower of an unlimited comic book
subscription" (http://mashable.com/2015/02/10/scribd-comics-subscription/). Mashable.
40. Mitroff, Sarah (February 10, 2015). "Scribd serves up all the comics you can read, for $9 per
month" (https://www.cnet.com/news/scribd-adds-comics-9-per-month/). CNet.
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41. Fowler, Geoffrey A. (February 10, 2010). "Scribd Plans Mobile Application" (https://www.wsj.com/
articles/SB10001424052748704140104575057501723639926). The Wall Street Journal.
Retrieved February 10, 2010.
42. "Scribd gets 'Readcasting': Autosharing made easy" (http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-200030
81-248.html?tag=mncol). CNet. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
43. "Scribd launches readcast" (http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Scribd-Launches-Readcast
-Integrates-With-Facebook-Social-Plugins-Make-Reading-More-Social-1151594.htm). Marketwire.
Retrieved April 15, 2010.
44. "Scribd's bet on the Facebook Effect" (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/04/21/scribds-bet-on-the-f
acebook-effect/). CNN. April 21, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
45. "Scribd Redesign Is An Attempt To Become A "Social Network For Reading" " (https://techcrunch.
com/2010/09/13/scribd-redesign/). TechCrunch. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
46. Carr, Austin (October 1, 2013). "Scribd, HarperCollins Launch $8.99 Subscription Book Service"
(http://www.fastcompany.com/3018856/scribd-harpercollins-launch-899-subscription-book-servic
e). Fast Company. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
47. "Scribd acquires presentation-sharing service SlideShare from LinkedIn" (https://techcrunch.com/
2020/08/11/scribd-acquires-slideshare/). TechCrunch. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
48. "Scribd Banks $3.5 Million from Redpoint" (https://techcrunch.com/2007/06/04/scribd-banks-35-m
illion-from-redpoint/).
49. Takahashi, Dean (December 19, 2008). "Scribd raises $9 million, hires new president for social
publishing" (https://venturebeat.com/2008/12/19/scribd-raises-9-million-hires-new-president-for-so
cial-publishing/). VentureBeat. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
50. Arrington, Michael (January 18, 2010). "Yammer Founder David Sacks Joins Scribd Board Of
Directors" (https://techcrunch.com/2010/01/18/yammer-founder-david-sacks-joins-scribd-board-of
-directors/). TechCrunch. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
51. Kaplan, David (January 18, 2011). "Scribd Raises $13 Million To Support Mobile Moves, Product
Expansion" (https://gigaom.com/2011/01/18/419-scribd-raises-13-million-to-support-mobile-move
s-product-expansion/). Gigaom.
52. Ha, Anthony (January 2, 2015). "Scribd Raises $22M For Its Subscription E-Book Service" (http
s://techcrunch.com/2015/01/02/scribd-khosla-funding/). TechCrunch.
53. Ha, Anthony (November 25, 2019). "Scribd raises $58M for subscription e-books and
audiobooks" (https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/25/scribd-spectrum-equity/). TechCrunch.
54. "iPaper: a Simple Way to View and Share Documents on the Web" (https://www.wired.com/2008/
02/ipaper_a_simple_way_to_view_and_share_documents_on_the_web/). Wired. February 20,
2008. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
55. "Scribd on your iPhone" (http://blog.scribd.com/2008/04/05/scribd-on-your-iphone/). Scribd. April
5, 2008.
56. "Global Storage Settings panel" (http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashpla
yer/help/settings_manager03.html). macromedia.com. Adobe. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
57. Friedman, Jared (May 6, 2010). HTML5 and The Future of Publishing (https://conferences.oreilly.
com/web2expo/webexsf2010/public/schedule/detail/15348). Web 2.0 Expo (https://conferences.or
eilly.com/webexsf2010/). Retrieved September 3, 2017.
58. Schonfeld, Erick (May 5, 2010). "Scribd CTO: We Are Scrapping Flash And Betting The Company
On HTML5" (https://techcrunch.com/2010/05/05/scribd-html5/). TechCrunch. Retrieved
October 11, 2010.
59. Albanese, Andrew Richard (July 26, 2010). "Betting the House on HTML5" (http://www.publishers
weekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/43942-betting-the-house-on-html5.htm
l). Publishers Weekly. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
60. "Scribd SAP Largest API Integration Press Release" (https://www.scribd.com/doc/29110682/Scrib
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September 22, 2010.
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External links
Official website (https://www.scribd.com/)
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