Quibi Execs Offer Statement About Platform Shutting Down

Quibi’s executives offered a statement after news of the platform shutting down circulated earlier today. A lot of media didn’t know what to make of the short-form video content app when it got announced. Upon the introduction of Quibi, it became clear that users might not have had a clear understanding either. A media campaign was everywhere shortly before the pandemic hurt showcasing the ease of watching tv in short bursts. But, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman just couldn’t right the ship in time. It wasn’t for lack of trying though, the company was pursuing any and all avenues to make their venture profitable. But, unfortunately, as most things progress these days, the views have to be there. On Medium, the execs shared their read of the ride so far.

“Our goal when we launched Quibi was to create a new category of short-form entertainment for mobile devices. Although the circumstances were not right for Quibi to succeed as a standalone company, our team achieved much of what we set out to accomplish, and we are tremendously proud of the award-winning and innovative work that we have produced, both in terms of original content and the underlying technology platform,” they said. “Over the coming months we will be working hard to find buyers for these valuable assets who can leverage them to their full potential.”

The statement also speculated about how they got to this point, “Quibi is not succeeding. Likely for one of two reasons: because the idea itself wasn’t strong enough to justify a standalone streaming service or because of our timing. Unfortunately, we will never know but we suspect it’s been a combination of the two. The circumstances of launching during a pandemic is something we could have never imagined but other businesses have faced these unprecedented challenges and have found their way through it. We were not able to do so.”

Earlier this year, Katzenberg thought Quibi would be able to pull it out. He told a crowd at SeriesFest how much hope he had for the future.

“I’m still quite optimistic this is gonna work,” the exec explained. “When the country opens up… we are all going to be back on the go again. The difference is, is that we are going to be waiting on line for more things than ever before… We are going to be waiting like crazy, and I hope Quibi is there to keep you entertained.”

Were you surprised by the Quibi news? Let us know down in the comments!