Document, book and audiobook subscription firm Scribd Inc. is in discussions to go public later this year, according to a report today from Bloomberg.

The report, referencing people with knowledge of the matter, said the company has held talks with potential advisers on an initial public offering or a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company. The deal would value Scribd at about $1 billion, with an IPO in the fourth quarter a possibility.

Founded in 2007, Scribd initially started as a document-sharing service and was described at one time as the “YouTube for documents.” It later evolved into a subscription service for books, audiobooks, magazine articles, documents and more. The company’s e-book subscription service is available on Android and iOS along with Kindle Fire, Nook and personal computers.

Scribd claims that it was the first company to introduce a reading subscription service in October 2013 and it is a notable achievement. Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle Unlimited service launched in July 2014. Audiobooks were added in November 2014, followed by sheet music in 2015 and magazines in 2016.

The company’s publishing partners include Simon & Shuster Inc., John Wiley & Sons Inc., MacMillan Ltd., HarperCollins Publishers LLC, Lonely Planet, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Fortune, Bloomberg and others.

Scribd has neither confirmed nor denied the report. “We do not have a comment about an IPO, but I can tell you that we continue to assess the best path forward for the Scribd business and its shareholders,” Scribd co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Trip Adler told the Journal.

The potential IPO has been a long time coming from Scribd, which is 14 years old. The discussion comes at a time when demand for audio content in particular is surging during the COVID-19 pandemic, audiobooks being a key part of Scribd’s offering.

Coming into a potential IPO or SPAC merger, Scribd has raised $105.8 million in funding through a mix of venture capital and private equity, according to Crunchbase. Investors include Spectrum Equity, Silicon Valley Bank, Redpoint, Khosla Ventures, CRV, Summit Action, Kinsey Hills and MLC Australia.

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