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from the Failed-to-reach-a-top...Quibile? dept.
Plagued with growth issues, Quibi, a short-form mobile-native video platform, is shutting down, according to multiple reports. The startup, co-founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, had raised nearly $2 billion in its lifetime as a private company. Quibi did not respond to requests for comment from TechCrunch.
The company's prolific fundraising efforts spanned prominent institutions in private equity, venture capital and Hollywood, all betting on Katzenberg's ability to deliver another hit. The startup's backers included Alibaba, Madrone Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, as well as Disney, Sony Pictures, Viacom, WarnerMedia and MGM, among others. The Information reports that Quibi will have $350 million left to return to shareholders.
Their pitch was highly produced bite-sized content, packed with Hollywood star power, and designed to be "mobile-first" entertainment. For the YouTubes and Snaps of the world, producing mainstream content on a shoestring budget, Quibi wanted to be an HBO for smartphones. Investors and pundits questioned the firm's ability to monetize this vision, and it became clear soon after launch that the company had miscalculated.
[...] Admitting that the launch hadn't gone as planned, Katzenberg blamed the coronavirus for the streaming app's challenges.
One problem with finding a buyer: Quibi doesn't even own most of its original "content":
Actually, Quibi doesn't own any of the big-budget premium content for which it has shelled out upwards of $100,000 per minute. The company has seven-year licenses on its short-form series; after two years, content owners have the right to assemble the shows and distribute them elsewhere.
Also at The Verge, Business Insider, Ars Technica, and MarketWatch.
Previously: Meg Whitman-Run Streaming Service "Quibi" Launches, Reception Mixed
The Fall of Quibi: How Did a Starry $1.75bn Netflix Rival Crash So Fast?
Related: Fox Could Buy Tubi While NBCUniversal Eyes Vudu
(Score: 5, Insightful) by EJ on Thursday October 22 2020, @05:44PM (3 children)
This story has brought so much joy to me in an otherwise very sad year.
Stupid ideas should be stomped, doused in accelerant, and killed with fire.
(Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Thursday October 22 2020, @05:53PM (2 children)
Ironically, people flock to view that kind of viral video online; just not on the quibi platform (ziiiiiiinnnggg)
(Score: 3, Informative) by EJ on Thursday October 22 2020, @06:28PM (1 child)
Quibi tried to normalize the use of vertical video. For that reason alone, everyone involved in the service should be incarcerated.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Friday October 23 2020, @12:47AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fadrian on Thursday October 22 2020, @05:50PM (8 children)
Plagued with growth issues...
Probably a lack thereof, in reality.
Katzenberg blamed the coronavirus for the streaming app's challenges.
When every other streaming platform was exploding? Right...
Maybe Meg should have brought Carly Fiorina and Elizabeth Holmes on to help her out.
That is all.
(Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Thursday October 22 2020, @06:00PM (4 children)
She took ebay from 0 to $8B, then took HP from about $130B down to about $110B, so net negative on the long term. But she was the best diversity hire out there, so ...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday October 22 2020, @09:15PM (2 children)
Meg Whitman is about as far from being a diversity hire as it is possible to be.
What she is, is a member of the ruling class, which is what she was born into.
Ebay was successful despite her, and every other job she has had has allowed her to continue to fail upwards. That is what happens to the children of money.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2020, @10:50PM
There's a simple problem. "Meg" is not short for "Margaret," it's short for "Megan" (and other spellings) Everything else follows from that.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday October 25 2020, @05:48PM
Roger that, if 95% of CEOs are male, then a woman CEO is not a diversity hire.
(Score: 3, Informative) by bobmorning on Friday October 23 2020, @02:55PM
Ex- HPES person here. Meg is Satan reincarnated. She sold all the HP software crown jewels (Fortify, ArcSight, etc) quarter after quarter to meet her Wall St numbers so she could pocket her performance based bonuses.
HPES is a shell of what it was once. A shame, but this is emblematic of the American CEO mindset today. I left before the ship sank, sadly others held on to the end...it didn't end well for many of them.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 22 2020, @08:49PM (2 children)
Wasn't there a brief moment where it didn't even work on TVs properly, because it was a smartphone-oriented service?
And much of the content was "short form". Nothing to "binge".
They will blame the virus to their last breathe.
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(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday October 22 2020, @09:48PM (1 child)
It wasn't brief; the service only works on mobile devices. No TVs or PCs.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 22 2020, @09:59PM
I thought I had heard about it being updated to work on TVs within the first month of launch. But there's this:
Quibi Lands on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV — but It’s Probably Too Little, Too Late [variety.com]
So you could "cast" it from the phone to TV. But they only added native TV apps 3 days ago!
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(Score: 2, Troll) by VLM on Thursday October 22 2020, @05:51PM (3 children)
quibi is what (((Hollywood))) told us we wanted, but as usual nobody wanted what they told us to want.
tiktok is the same thing as quibi but with better content, mostly naked hot amateur women.
From what I saw the content on quibi was beyond cringe, like the crappiest ads on a daytime cable TV channel, but, somehow, worse. The kind of stuff nobody watches anymore so the budget was slashed until nobody tunes in except coma patients in the hospital. And the quibi people accidentally thought that was a real market LOL.
Quibi also closed/DRMed the heck out of everything, screenshots are a blank page. The (((hollywood))) people don't understand the best advertising for tiktok was "hot" screenshots of tiktok uploaded everywhere.
Its astounding how much money they were asking for subscription to quibi given the content.
It didn't do anything anyone wanted, and couldn't convince anyone that what it did was desirable. It was like a late night infomercial merged with mobile app development. I'd rather have a pocket sized folding fishing rod than a quibi. Or a thighmaster, snuggie, or slap-chop, or a gadget combining all in one. At least the ShakeWeight provided videos of women that guys actually wanted to see, unlike quibi. Yeah the world needs ShakeWeights about a thousand times more than it needs quibi.
Overall, a pretty good sign we're in bubble poppin territory. How exactly did "veg out brainlessly on your phone" fail during a world wide pandemic of bored people? The collapse would have been absolutely unimaginable under better conditions.
So yeah I been laughing at this one for awhile, waiting for the inevitable obituary to make some laughs above. This cycle needs a "fuckedcompany.com" like at the turn of the century.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2020, @07:17PM (2 children)
What's with the air quotes?
(Score: 2) by NateMich on Thursday October 22 2020, @08:11PM
Unless there was a video somewhere with his hands in the air (on Quibi perhaps?) then I don't think that means what you think it means.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2020, @10:25PM
Do you mean the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_parentheses [wikipedia.org] or the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2020, @06:13PM
It's just too hard to compete with "worst ladder"
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2020, @06:30PM (2 children)
That Whitman is pure gold. I can't wait to see what company trips over themselves to hire this dumpster fire next.
(Score: 3, Funny) by EJ on Thursday October 22 2020, @10:22PM (1 child)
She should run for democrat president in 2024.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Thursday October 22 2020, @10:51PM
The Carly Fiorina Gambit
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by GlennC on Thursday October 22 2020, @07:43PM (1 child)
Go ahead and mod me "Redundant."
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2020, @10:31AM
You're not redundant. Quibi, however, was.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2020, @07:44PM
I have a service idea too! And i want 2 billions ( i mean 200b) for it also, and i promise to give back three fiddy.
Ok, so the idea is that it's a sound platform and you can supply your sound content there, BUT it's limited to Mariah Carey level high notes only. You have to install an app obviously and it will DRM the shit out of your phone. It'll write itself so deep in the electronics that you can't get rid of it even by physically decapping the MCU.
Ok, listen up! The line start from here. Get ready to give me all your moula!
Ps. I will own all your content, even the stuff you've not send to the service and will create in the future.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday October 22 2020, @09:25PM
This combined the worst parts of curated broadcast video (some nameless faceless suits decide what you can and can't see, when you can see it, how you can see it, and how much it's going to cost you) with the worst parts of web video (often too short to be worth seeing).
But investors often go for stupid ideas from well-connected people.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2020, @05:31PM
Not the first company she's ruined, don't understand why they hire her.