Quibi

About Quibi

Quibi, short for quick bites, launched in April 2020 and shut down in December 2020, one of the fastest shutdowns of a well funded startup. Quibi raised 1.75 billion from investors including Disney, NBCUniversal, and Sony Pictures. Founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman pitched short form video content for mobile phones. The launch coincided with COVID lockdowns. Users objected to the no screenshot sharing policy and the subscription price. Quibi had 500,000 subscribers at launch but could not grow. Content costs were approximately 100,000 per minute. Roku acquired Quibis content library for under 100 million in January 2021. The case illustrates that even experienced entertainment executives and massive funding cannot guarantee success in the streaming market.