I wrote here that Quibi is a bad business model. Today, we are learning that the company is shutting down. LinkedIn has included my perspective as one of the Editors’ picks. This is coming after Quibi raised $1.75 billion in funding.
Streaming service Quibi is shutting down. In a statement to employees and investors, founders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman said, “We are winding down the business and looking to sell its content and technology assets.” The service, which featured 5- to 10-minute video narratives meant to be consumed on a smartphone, had attracted $1.7 billion in funding in the run-up to its launch less than a year ago. Its employees will be laid off and paid a severance, anonymous sources told The Wall Street Journal.
The Verge expands the reason behind the shutting down.
Quibi, the struggling short-form mobile video startup led by founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman, is shutting down just six months post-launch after the company failed to find a buyer, according to a new report.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Katzenberg called investors Wednesday to tell them Quibi was folding. That came after a restructuring firm hired by Quibi — which raised $1.75 billion in funding, including from major media companies including Disney, NBCUniversal, and WarnerMedia — provided a list of options to the company’s board of directors this week. One of the proposals: for Quibi to cut its losses and shutter the company.
Meanwhile, TikTok is fighting to ensure hate is out of its network.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 14 (June 3 – Sept 2, 2024) begins registrations; get massive discounts with early registration here.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
The social media network that became popular for its teen dance challenges is now dealing with a problem familiar to some of its more mature competitors: hateful content. On Wednesday TikTok announced that it’s expanding its hate speech policies that already prohibit neo-Nazism and white supremacy to include “neighboring ideologies” like white nationalism and genocide theory. The service also said it will crack down on coded language and symbols TikTokers may use to spread hate speech (Fortune newsletter)
---
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Jun 3 - Sep 2, 2024), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.