LegalZoom.com files to raise up to $120 million in IPO
LegalZoom.com Inc., an online provider of legal services for consumers and small businesses, has filed to raise as much as $120 million in an initial public offering.
The Glendale company was founded in 1999 and offers self-help legal documents such as divorce and bankruptcy forms, real estate leases, prenuptial agreements and wills.
The company has been credited with helping shake up the legal industry by making it simple for people to bypass lawyers. LegalZoom has served about 2 million customers during the last decade, it said in its filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company said it planned to use the proceeds from its IPO for “general corporate purposes.” It plans to improve its services, leverage and grow subscription legal plans, and expand internationally.
“We believe that everyone deserves access to quality legal services so they can benefit from the full protection of the law,” the company said. “Despite the enormous amount spent on legal services, we believe that small businesses and consumers have not been adequately served by the options traditionally available to them.”
The company’s co-founders include Robert Shapiro, an O.J. Simpson defense attorney, and serial entrepreneur Brian Lee, who went on to co-found e-commerce companies ShoeDazzle with Kim Kardashian and the Honest Co. with Jessica Alba.
A LegalZoom spokeswoman declined to comment on the filing.
LegalZoom, which is not a law firm and doesn’t provide legal advice, reported revenue of $156 million in 2011, a 29% increase from the year before. Profit was $12.1 million, compared with a $4-million loss in 2010.
The company did not specify how many shares it would be offering or an expected price. It said it planned to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LGZ.
