Streaming & OTT

Quibi Is Shutting Down After Just 6 Months: 'Our Failure Was Not for Lack of Trying'

Short-form video service becomes first high-profile casualty of the streaming wars

quibi-shutdown-prewrite-CONTENT-2020 — The short-form streaming service, which launched in April, failed to find a foothold. Quibi

The short-form video startup Quibi is now a short-lived platform.

The streaming video app from Hollywood studio bigwig Jeffrey Katzenberg and former eBay head Meg Whitman is pulling the plug after a disappointing few months for the well-funded service after it failed to find a foothold.

Katzenberg, a fixture in the entertainment industry, called investors today to tell them that the service would shut down, The Wall Street Journal first reported. The company will be holding a call with investors later this evening to update them on the Quibi’s status.

UPDATE: In an open letter published on Medium after the conference call, Katzenberg and Whitman offered an explanation—and a tepid plea for understanding—for the company’s demise to Quibi’s employees, investors and partners.

“It