In the race of the streaming platform, Quibi has lost its position. Between the giant streaming platforms, the new application Quibi has been overshadowed.
On 6 April 2020, the new streaming platform, Quibi, launched by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman. The platform provides content with a mobile-friendly interface. Katzenberg originally founded the platform under the name NewTV which was later led by the CEO, Meg Whitman. Quibi raised significant $1 billion funding from other investors, including NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, Time Warner, eOne, MGM, ITV, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Liberty Global, and Alibaba Group. BBC Studios also invested in Quibi on 8 July 2019. It later announced a partnership with Canadian company BCE in March 2020.
Whitman and Katzenberg launched the platform in Canada and the United States. The platform got a quick start with 1.7 million downloads till 14 April. According to Sensor Tower, the application ranked 125th in May. And the investment on the software exceeded $2 billion in just six months.
In the recent interview, the founders shared that they are closing down Quibi and initiating its assets’ sales. Simultaneously, the remaining funds will go back to the investors as specified in the agreement. Katzenberg and Whitman wrote an open letter to the staff, saying they are exhausted with all their options. The closing of the firm will lead 200 employees out of their job.
The Wall Street Journal reported the company’s shutting down. Later, the founders confirmed the news during an interview with Deadline Hollywood; they said they know that even if they continued spending more money on the company, there would be no positive outcome. And that is irresponsible if they felt they should not do it.
Unfortunately, within a month of the launch, Americans were forced to live in their home during the lockdown period. And Katzenberg’s theory of unscripted show and sliced drama while waiting in Starbucks’ line never got enough chance to show its potential.
Quibi also struggled to attract the paid subscribers and reached only 30% of the audience than their original target of 7.4 million. Witman shared in the interview that they have enough capital to keep going and operate the company for a specific time. Still, they think this is the best time to say goodbye to their talented colleagues, return the shares to the shareholder, and shut down the business.
I am Elina John a self-professed security expert. I have been making the people aware of security threats. My passion is to write about Cybersecurity, cryptography, malware, social engineering, the internet, and new media. I write for McAfee security products at mcafee.com/activate.
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