Scribd Hires First-Ever Legal Chief Ahead of Potential IPO (1)

Scribd Inc., an audio- and e-e book reading through subscription provider that has held talks with advisers about likely community, has named Laura Malinasky as its initially regulation department leader.

The San Francisco-based enterprise claimed in a blog post Thursday that Malinasky is a member of its govt workforce as main authorized officer and normal counsel.

“I am passionate about Scribd’s mission to modify the way the globe reads,” she reported in a assertion.

Scribd cited Malinasky’s two decades of working experience at know-how firms that have “experienced outstanding expansion, unlocked money, and transitioned into the community space.” Scribd held conversations about probably heading community at a $1 billion valuation, Bloomberg News claimed last 12 months.

John “Trip” Adler III, a co-founder of Scribd and the company’s chief executive officer, explained Malinasky was hired for her qualifications in the technological know-how sector at personal and general public computer software and engineering firms.

Her prior work “navigating the intricate authorized matters confronted by world providers that are going through powerful growth,” as very well as Malinasky’s worldwide skills, will comprehensive Scridb’s govt leadership group as the enterprise seeks to extend its world choices, Adler said.

Malinasky most not long ago served as lawful chief for Earth Labs Inc., a San Francisco-based mostly satellite imaging outfit that clinched a $2.8 billion merger very last year with a specific intent acquisition corporation.

She worked on that offer, which observed World go community in December right after the firm introduced on a new best lawyer in Amy Keating, a previous authorized chief at Mozilla Corp.

Prior to Earth, which Malinasky joined in 2017, she put in three several years as main lawful and human means officer at Dynatrace Inc., a program intelligence platform that went general public in 2019. The former Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati affiliate commenced her in-house job in 2002 at Incyte Corp.

Malinasky spent a calendar year at the pharmaceutical organization just before signing up for Tibco Program Inc., a business intelligence software package firm where by she worked for more than a 10 years, mounting to the degree of vice president of legal affairs.

She joins a workforce at Scribd that involves director of authorized Teddy Joe, who will stay in that posture, mentioned enterprise spokesman Bob Ferguson. Scribd hired Joe, a former affiliate general counsel and head of intellectual home at cellular gaming firm Zynga Inc., in 2019.

Scribd, begun in 2007 as a doc-sharing website, has about the years developed to incorporate other online content material, this kind of as publications, magazines, news and podcasts. The firm lifted $58 million in its most latest funding spherical in 2019 led by Spectrum Equity Investors LP.

Fenwick & West encouraged Scribd on that fundraising, which reportedly valued the corporation at $450 million. Fenwick has also counseled Scribd on its acquisition in 2020 of SlideShare, a internet hosting assistance for experienced written content earlier owned by Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn, which was encouraged by Wilson Sonsini.

Scribd has publishing agreements with quite a few organizations, such as Bloomberg Law’s affiliate firm Bloomberg LP. But since its founding, Scribd has battled copyright promises from plaintiffs, who claim its platform infringed on their articles. Copyright and patent circumstances have comprised approximately 40% of Scribd’s caseload in U.S. federal courts given that 2007, in accordance to Bloomberg Law facts.

Fenwick has taken care of almost 50% of Scribd’s federal litigation perform all through that period, adopted by Wilson Sonsini at almost 16% and Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani at around 11%, in accordance to Bloomberg Regulation knowledge.

Scribd’s major competitor is Amazon.com Inc.-owned audiobook provider Audible, which in November promoted its vice president of content authorized Lori Landew to typical counsel. Landew, a previous co-chair of Fox Rothschild’s entertainment observe, succeeded previous authorized chief Stanislav Zakharenko.

Zakharenko, who used a lot more than a half-dozen yrs at Newark, N.J.-dependent Audible, was hired very last summer time to be director of merchandise legal at Netflix Inc.