Quibi, Barely A Quibi Old, Is Shutting Down

A "Quibi," a term that had been drilled into the skulls of the online populace over the past year or so, means a "quick-bite" of mobile television that lasts ten minutes. Quibi, the company that boldly attempted to revolutionize the streaming industry by delivering original, short-form video content to mobile phones, lasted 28,584 Quibis.

Today, founder Jeffrey Katzenberg called investors to tell him he was shutting the $1.75 billion venture down, just over six months after the company launched, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Quibi had been plagued with issues since its launch in April of 2020. The platform was conceived as a streaming service for mobile phones, which would, in theory, make it perfect for commuters on subways and cabs. However, the COVID-19 pandemic put a screeching halt to commuting, as Quibi's imagined clientele were instead stuck working from home and getting their entertainment on televisions.

Last month, the company looked into restructuring or perhaps even selling in order to make itself profitable. The news kicked off a load of schadenfreude, as Quibi drew mockery ever since it was first announced thanks to its name, core concept, and plethora of shows that many commenters noted sounded more like 30 Rock gags than actual pieces of entertainment.

News that Quibi was shutting down was met with much of the same reaction, as well as some fond farewells to one of 2020's most reliable punching bags.

I'm not gonna tell the Quibi people how to do their jobs but if you wanted to raise $1.8 billion to invest in something destined to fail you should've just bought the Jets.

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) October 21, 2020

Quibi ruled. Creatives got paid, rich people got less rich and more humiliated. Quibi was praxis.

— Barry Petchesky (@barry) October 21, 2020

Make fun of it all you want, but Quibi's Golden Arm wound up being a parable for Quibi's entire business.pic.twitter.com/KRm0aA7XX0

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 21, 2020

From the moment it was founded to the moment its impending closure was announced, Quibi burnt $1496 per minute, 24/7 https://t.co/kwGdpiAF8v

— Actually, (@eaton) October 21, 2020

everyone is dancing on the grave of quibi but I will miss doing my quibi original show called Bug Judge where I resolved a conflict between two bugs and smashed the loser with my gavel

— LB™️ “𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧” 🛢 (@LydiaBurrell) October 21, 2020

quibi was never going to succeed without any new shrek content and i don't know why we're not pretending like we didn't know that from the get-go

— julia alexander (@loudmouthjulia) October 21, 2020

Perhaps coincidentally, news of Quibi shutting down comes just as its CEO Meg Whitman is in the news for being a potential member of Joe Biden's presidential cabinet.