Quibi Shuts Down After Just Six Months Despite Billions in Funding
Quibi, the mobile short-form video platform founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, is shutting down and returning its remaining funds to investors after failing to attract enough subscribers.
Quibi announces it is shutting down just over six months after its high-profile launch. The mobile streaming service, founded by Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and led by CEO Meg Whitman, raises an impressive $1.75 billion and attracts major investors like Disney, NBCUniversal, and WarnerMedia. The app features premium short-form videos under 10 minutes starring big names like Chrissy Teigen and Idris Elba.
The company fails to gain significant traction, falling quickly in app store rankings and attracting only about 500,000 subscribers against a first-year projection of 7 million. Quibi launches with a $4.99-per-month subscription model just as the coronavirus pandemic takes hold in the United States. This timing proves disastrous as the service targets on-the-go mobile viewers who suddenly find themselves stuck at home without an option to cast content to their televisions.
Quibi makes a proactive decision to wind down operations and return remaining capital to shareholders to preserve equity. Katzenberg attributes the failure to poor timing and the possibility that the idea itself lacks the strength to justify a standalone streaming service. The company plans to seek buyers for its content library as it closes its doors.