Scribd

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Scribd
Scribd logo.svg
Type Private
Founded

San Francisco, California, USA

(March 2007)
Headquarters
Key people

San Francisco, California, USA

Trip Adler (CEO, co-founder),

Jared Friedman (CTO, co-founder),

Tikhon Bernstam (COO, co-founder)
Services

Social reading and publishing platform

Website

Scribd.com

Alexa rank

negative increase 411 (February 2015)[1]

Type of site Social Software

Available in English, Spanish, Portuguese
Current status

Active

Scribd /skrbd/ is a digital library, featuring an ebook, audiobook and comic book
subscription service that includes New York Times Best-Sellers and classics.

Launched in 2007 by Trip Adler and Jared Friedman, and headquartered in San
Francisco, CA, Scribd also features written works contributed by users around the
world. Backed by Y Combinator, Charles River Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures,
Scribd serves more than 80 million active readers coming to the site every
month.[2]

Scribd's subscription service is available on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone

smartphones and tablets, as well as the Kindle Fire, Nook, and personal
computers for a fee which lets readers have unlimited access to more than

500,000 books from over 900 publishers, including Harper Collins, Simon and
Schuster, RosettaBooks, and Workman.[3] In November 2014, audiobooks were
added and in February 2015 comic books were added, both without an additional
fee to the subscription.[4][5]

Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Timeline
3 Financials
4 Technology
5 Reception
5.1 Accusations of copyright infringement
5.2 Controversies
6 Supported file formats
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
History[edit]
The idea for Scribd was originally inspired when Trip Adler was at Harvard and
had a conversation with his father, John R. Adler, about the difficulties of
publishing academic papers. He teamed up with co-founders Jared Friedman and
Tikhon Bernstamm and they attended Y Combinator in Cambridge in the summer
of 2006.[6] Scribd was launched from a San Francisco apartment in March 2007
and quickly grew in traffic. In 2008, it ranked as one of the top 20 social media
sites according to Comscore.[7] In June 2009, Scribd launched Scribd Store[8]
and shortly thereafter closed a deal with Simon & Schuster to sell ebooks on
Scribd.[9] Over 900 publishers, including HarperCollins, Harvard University Press,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Wiley, Pearson, Random House, RosettaBooks,
Stanford University Press, and Workman, are now[when?] associated with Scribd.
[citation needed] ProQuest began publishing dissertations and theses on Scribd
in December 2009.[citation needed]

In October 2009, Scribd launched its branded reader for media companies with
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post,
TechCrunch, and MediaBistro.[10] Over 100 media companies now use Scribds
branded reader to embed source material into their stories. In August 2010,
news stories began to break and documents and books began to go viral on
Scribd including the overturned Prop 8 and HPs lawsuit against Mark Hurds
move to Oracle Corporation.[citation needed]

In October 2013, Scribd officially launched the first unlimited access subscription
service for digital books, often called the "Netflix for ebooks",[11] giving readers
unlimited access to Scribd library.[12] The company also announced a
partnership with major publishing company HarperCollins.[2] The official
statement revealed that the "majority" of the HarperCollins US and HarperCollins
Christian catalogs will be available in Scribd's subscription service. Chantal
Restivo-Alessi, chief digital officer at HarperCollins, explained to the media that
the deal represents the first time that the publisher has released such a large
portion of its catalog.[13]

As of December 2013, Adler is the CEO of Scribd, where he is responsible for the
product and strategic direction of the company. Adler was named in
BusinessWeek's "Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs 2010" list.[14]

In January 2015, the company raised $22 million in new funding from Khosla
Ventures with partner Keith Rabois joining the Scribd board of directors.[15]

Timeline[edit]
In February 2010, Scribd unveiled its first mobile plans for e-readers and
smartphones.[16] In April 2010 Scribd launched a new feature called "Readcast",
[17] which allows automatic sharing of documents on Facebook and Twitter.[18]
Also in April 2010, Scribd announced its integration of Facebook social plug-ins at
the Facebook f8 Developer Conference.[19]

Scribd rolled out a redesign on September 13, 2010 to become, according to

TechCrunch, "the social network for reading".[20]

In October 2013, Scribd launched its ebook subscription service, allowing readers
to pay a flat monthly fee in exchange for unlimited access to all of Scribd's book
titles.[21]

Financials[edit]
The company was initially funded with US$120,000 from Y Combinator, and
received over US$3.7 million in June 2007 from Redpoint Ventures and The
Kinsey Hills Group.[22][23] 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, and hired as president George
Consagra, former Bebo COO and managing director of Organic Inc.[24] Consagra
left Scribd and became CEO of Good Guide in August 2010.

David O. Sacks, former PayPal COO and founder of Yammer and Geni, joined
Scribds board of directors in January 2010. In January 2011, Scribd raised its
largest round, bringing in an additional $13M. The latest round was led by MLC
Investments of Australia and SVB Capital and included several previous
investors.[25]

Technology[edit]
In July 2008, Scribd began using iPaper, a rich document format similar to PDF
built for the web, which allows users to embed documents into a web page.[26]
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).[27] 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.[28]

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.[29] 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.'"[30] In July 2010 Publishers Weekly wrote a
cover story on Scribd entitled "Betting the House on HTML5."[31]

Scribd has its own API to integrate external/third-party applications.[32]

Since 2010, Scribd has been available on mobile phones and e-readers, in
addition to personal computers. As of December 2013, Scribd is available
through the various app stores on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, as
well as the Kindle Fire and Nook tablets.

Reception[edit]
Scribd has been praised by several newspapers and magazines, including The
New York Times, Fast Company, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal.[33] In 2013,

the company was dubbed the "Netflix for ebooks"[11] by Wired, and is a known
pioneer of the "all-you-can-read" model for ebooks.[34]

According to Scribd, more than 80 million readers from over 100 countries use
the site on a monthly basis. Their library includes more than 100,000
subscription books from 900+ publishers, and over 40 million documents and
books have been uploaded to the site. Scribd readers have access to books by
famous authors like Kurt Vonnegut, Paolo Coelho, and Meg Cabot.

Notable users of Scribd include Virginia senator Mark Warner,[35] former

California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, New York Times DealBook
reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin, All Things D Reporter Kara Swisher, the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), Red Cross, UNICEF, World Economic Forum,
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, The World Bank, Ford Motor
Company, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and the Hasmonean High School Living
Torah.

Accusations of copyright infringement[edit]

Scribd has often been accused of copyright infringement. In March 2009, Scribd
launched a "copyright management system" and has made upgrades to its
system including the reported addition of OCR. The New York Times reported in
May 2009 that Scribd was hosting pirated works by authors such as Ursula K. Le
Guin, J.K. Rowling, and Stephen King.[36]

In September 2009, American author Elaine Scott alleged that Scribd

"shamelessly profits from the stolen copyrighted works of innumerable
authors."[37] Her attorneys Joe Sibley and Kiwi Camara sought class action
status in their efforts to win damages from Scribd for allegedly "egregious
copyright infringement."[38][39] On May 11, 2009, Motoko Rich, writing in the
New York Times, reported on Scribd's hosting of pirated works. Sibley Camara
filed a class action lawsuit against Scribd, accusing it of calculated copyright
infringement for profit.[40] The suit was dropped in July 2010.[41][42]

In 2007, one year after its inception, Scribd was served with 25 Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices.[43] The total number of
DMCA notices that have been served to the company is unknown, but, on 8
January 2013, a single author Steven Saylor notified Scribd of 17 unauthorized
uploads of his copyrighted work.[44]

Controversies[edit]

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.[45][46][47]

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 Sonys
DMCA request.[48]

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.[49]

Supported file formats[edit]

Supported formats include:[50]

Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xlsx)

Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pps, .pptx, .ppsx)
Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx)
OpenDocument (.odt, .odp, .ods, .odf, .odg)
OpenOffice.org XML (.sxw, .sxi, .sxc, .sxd)
Plain text (.txt)
Portable Document Format (.pdf)
PostScript (.ps)
Rich text format (.rtf)
Tagged image file format (.tif, .tiff)
See also[edit]
Document collaboration
Wayback Machine
Webcite
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Scribd.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
^ Jump up to: a b Julie Bosman (October 1, 2013). "HarperCollins Joins Scribd in
E-Book Subscription Plan". Retrieved December 8, 2013.
Jump up ^ Holmes, David (2013-11-18). "What does achieving a big milestone
get you at Scribd? An equally big office perk.". Pando.com. Retrieved 2013-12-30.

Jump up ^ Scribd adds unlimited audiobooks to its $8.99 subscription ebook

service. Retrieved 6 Nov 2014
Jump up ^ Read thousands of comic books with a Scribd subscription. Engadget.
Retrieved 11 Feb 2015.
Jump up ^ "Scribd". Crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
Jump up ^ "Scribd had a blowout year and so did the web document".
Jump up ^ Brad Stone (17 May 2009). "Site Lets Writers Sell Digital Copies". The
New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Brad Stone (11 July 2009). "Simon & Schuster to Sell Digital Books on
Scribd.com". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "From The Desk Of Your News Outlet And Scribd". Reuters. 2009-1007. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
^ Jump up to: a b Metz, Cade. "Scribd Challenges Amazon and Apple With 'Netflix
for Books'". Wired. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
Jump up ^ "Scribd Launches First Global, Multi-Platform Digital Book Subscription
Service" (Press release). Scribd. 2013-10-01. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
Jump up ^ Anthony Ha (1 October 2013). "With HarperCollins Deal, Scribd
Unveils Its Bid To Become The Netflix For Books". TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved
1 October 2013.
Jump up ^ "Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs 2010". Business Week. Retrieved
2010.
Jump up ^ http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/02/scribd-khosla-funding/
Jump up ^ Fowler, Geoffrey A. (2010-02-10). "Scribd Plans Mobile Application".
Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
Jump up ^ "Scribd gets 'Readcasting': Autosharing made easy". CNet. Retrieved
2010-04-21.
Jump up ^ "Scribd launches readcast". Marketwire. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
Jump up ^ "Scribd's bet on the Facebook Effect". CNN. 2010-04-21. Retrieved
2010-04-21.
Jump up ^ "Scribd Redesign Is An Attempt To Become A "Social Network For
Reading"". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
Jump up ^ Carr, Austin (2013-10-01). "Scribd, HarperCollins Launch $8.99
Subscription Book Service". Fast Company. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
Jump up ^ "Scribd Banks $3.5 Million from Redpoint".
Jump up ^ "Scribd CrunchBase Company Profile".
Jump up ^ "Scribd raises $9 million, hires new president for social publishing".
Jump up ^ "Scribd Raises $13 Million To Support Mobile Moves, Product
Expansion". paidContent.org. 19 Jan 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2012.

Jump up ^ "iPaper: a Simple Way to View and Share Documents on the Web".
Wired. 2008-02-20. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
Jump up ^ "Scribd on your iPhone".
Jump up ^ "Global Storage Settings panel". Macromedia.com. Retrieved 2009-0201.
Jump up ^ "HTML5 and The Future of Publishing". Web 2.0 Expo. Retrieved 201005-06.
Jump up ^ Erick Schonfeld (May 5, 2010). "Scribd CTO: We Are Scrapping Flash
And Betting The Company On HTML5". Retrieved October 11, 2010.
Jump up ^ "Betting the House on HTML 5". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2010-0726.
Jump up ^ "Scribd SAP Largest API Integration Press Release". Scribd. 2009-0310. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Press". Scribd. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
Jump up ^ Schnuer, Jenna (2013-11-08). "We Test It: Scribd's All-You-Can Read
Digital Buffet". Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
Jump up ^ "Mark Warner". scribd.com. 29 March 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
Jump up ^ Motoko Rich (2009-05-11). "Print Books Are Target of Pirates on the
Web". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
Jump up ^ Johnson, Bobbie (2009-09-21). "Book sharing site Scribd rejects claims
of copyright infringement". The Guardian (London).
Jump up ^ Greg Sandoval (September 19, 2009). "Jammie Thomas lawyers file
suit against Scribd". Retrieved October 11, 2010.
Jump up ^ Motoko Rich (2009-09-19). "Jammie Thomas lawyers file suit against
Scribd". CNET News.com. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
Jump up ^ "Class Action Copyright Suit Filed Against Scribd... By Jammie Thomas'
Lawyers?". TechDirt. 2009-09-21. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
Jump up ^ "Lawsuit Saying Scribd's Copyright-Protection Filters Infringe On
Copyrights Has Been Dumped". Scribd. TechDirt. 19 July 2010. Retrieved 24
September 2010.
Jump up ^ Kravets, David (2010-07-19). "Lawsuit Dropped; Claimed That
Copyright-Filtering Violates Copyright". Wired. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
Jump up ^ "Scribd looks like a winner". Scribd. TechCrunch. 29 March 2009.
Retrieved 1 January 2010.
Jump up ^ Steven Saylor (8 January 2013). "Archive Page". Steven Saylor. Steven
Saylor. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
Jump up ^ Stone, Brad (29 March 2009). "passwords of comcast customers
exposed". nytimes.com. Retrieved 1 January 2010.

Jump up ^ "Comcast passwords leaked onto the web". cnet.com. 29 March 2009.
Retrieved 1 January 2010.
Jump up ^ "Comcast passwords exposed". hothardware.com. 29 March 2009.
Retrieved 1 January 2010.
Jump up ^ Gannes, Liz. "Leaked Facebook Movie Script Paints Zuckerberg as
Vindictive and Naive". Gigaom.
Jump up ^ "Freedom on the Net Turkey 2013". Freedom House. Retrieved
October 3, 2013.
Jump up ^ Jason (February 26, 2009). "Info, FAQs, and Forums/FAQ: Writing,
Uploading and Managing Documents". Retrieved October 11, 2010.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Scribd.
Official website
Video: 'YouTube' for writers
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