Short-form mobile streaming service Quibi is shutting down a mere six months after release

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UPDATE 1/8/2021 1:15 PM ET: Quibi lives on – all of its content will be offered for free on the Roku channel. The original story follows below.

Quibi, on paper, seemed to check a lot of boxes. Quality creators, the return of popular shows from the past, and an interesting mobile format meant for people on the move. Then COVID-19 struck and everything shut down. People weren’t on the move. They were at home working, binging Netflix, and sinking hours into their favorite video games.

Quibi never got off the ground, and the service has been the butt of many jokes over the past months. Now, a new report from the Wall Street Journal states that the company is shutting down six months after release. Long story short, the company wasn’t making money and the decision was made to shut down sooner rather than later in order to return as much money to investors as possible.

According to the report from WSJ, founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and Chief Executive Meg Whitman note that Quibi’s shutdown “was not for a lack of trying,” and that they had “considered and exhausted every option” available to them.

Quibi is also dealing with a lawsuit right now from interactive-video company Eko. Essentially, the lawsuit states that Quibi stole trade secrets and is violating patents regarding certain features on Quibi’s platform.

In the WSJ report regarding the Quibi closure, it is also noted that Katzenberg suggested to employees that were about to be without a job to listen to a Trolls song, “Get Back Up Again,” sung by Anna Kendrick to “lift their spirits.” I don’t know about you, but a stable job and I dunno, money, help lift my spirits and not a founder giving me music recommendations.

UPDATE 1/8/2021 1:15 PM ET: Quibi lives on – all of its content will be offered for free on the Roku channel. The original story follows below.

What do you think? Surprised that Quibi is shutting down already? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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