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UPDATE; 7:28 a.m. The end credits have finished rolling for Quibi, the ambitious short-lived subscription video service launched last April at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
After a short and difficult run, the Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman racing app is complete as of today – as planned.
Quibi still has a functional website and profile on major social media platforms. But social accounts have become private and the Quibi app no longer allows users to log in or view programming. When subscribers try to sign in, they get an error message, but the app will stay on their phone until it’s deleted.
Founder Katzenberg and CEO Whitman made their debut in a crowded streaming market after waves of marketing funded by $ 1.75 billion in seed funding, only to see it quickly collapse.
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The final release is right on time for Quibi, which was originally founded by Katzenberg, who recruited his Disney colleague Whitman a long time ago to lead him as CEO. In a note on its site on October 22, the company said it plans to be completely dark by today, December 1.
After unsuccessfully searching for a buyer in the later stages of its brief life, the company has also sought to find homes for some of its high-priced series, although that has also been a challenge – to put it mildly.
PREVIOUS, OCTOBER 22: A day after Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman announced their “clear-headed” decision to shut down the proven six-month-old mobile subscription video platform, Quibi said December 1 would be its “last”. day of service ”.
“Quibi has made the difficult decision to opt out,” a self-proclaimed “end of service announcement” said today in the platform’s FAQ section. “We anticipate that the service will end on or around December 1, 2020. We appreciate the support we have received from our customers and would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to entertain you. If you have any questions or need assistance in any way, please contact us at [email protected]. “
Far faster than the several months of liquidation that had been canceled on Wednesday and with around 200 employees now heading into unemployment, today’s end-of-service update soon leaves the app’s roughly 500,000 registrations. Quibi in the dark. It also appears to be the last curtain on shows like Emmy winner #FreeRayshawn, Starring Liam Hemsworth Most Dangerous Game, Mannequin with Anna Kendrick and the remake of The fugitive with Kiefer Sutherland – at least if Katzenberg and Whitman can’t find a buyer.
“At the moment, we don’t know if Quibi content will be available anywhere after our last day of service,” adds the end-of-service announcement with some ambiguity. “We recommend that you follow #Quibi on Twitter for all content updates.”
After raising around $ 1.7 billion from major studios and Wall Street investment firms, Quibi launched in April with great fanfare with many big names and a 90-day free trial. Nonetheless, with the coronavirus pandemic, but a factor that took the wind out of the sails of Quibi’s abbreviated entertainment offering for on-the-go viewers, the app quickly shrunk the list of downloads and registrations remained slim. .
After weeks of speculation and with no clear path to success in sight, Katzenberg and Whitman faced hard facts on October 21. “We started with the idea of creating the next generation of storytelling and thanks to you we were able to create and deliver the best version of what we imagined to be Quibi,” the founder and CEO said yesterday in a letter addressed to staff and investors. and others. “It is therefore with an extremely heavy heart that we announce today that we are in the process of ending the activity and that we are looking to sell its content and technological assets.”
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