Embattled Columbia, SC, technology company Collexis Holdings has sold Lawriter LLC, the subsidiary it acquired early last year.
Collexis sold Lawriter to SSN Holdings Inc. for a little more than $2.1 million in cash, with SSN assuming all Lawriter liabilities, according to information filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The total value of the transaction is approximately $7.1 million.
Collexis acquired Lawriter, which provides online legal research to a consortium of bar associations, for $9 million, according to SEC documents.
The sale of Lawriter would appear to represent a serious blow to Collexis’s future financial hopes. Lawriter earned well over half Collexis’s gross profits for the first nine months of Fiscal Year 2009 – $1.69 million compared to $1.16 million for the rest of the company.
In addition, while Collexis lost nearly $5.5 million for the nine months ended March 31, Lawriter’s loss was just $75,256.
In Fiscal Year 2008, Collexis as a whole lost more than $11.2 million, but Lawriter actually earned $73,632.
Stock in Collexis is currently trading for around 5 cents a share.
The Cotton Boll Conspiracy 
According to the SEC filing, SSN Holdings is controlled by Daniel Shapiro. The same Daniel Shapiro of Jurisearch. The same Jurisearch that filed suit against Collexis and Lawriter last year. That lawsuit has now been withdrawn without prejudice. Go figure.