Jeffrey Katzenberg 2012, by Angela George/ Wikipedia
The short-form mobile video platform Quibi has closed a second round of financing worth $750 million, including about $400 million secured at the end of 2019.
The funds bringing its total investment to $1.75 billion since it was founded two years ago.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the service is set to launch on April 6, 2020.
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Quibi founded in 2018 by television producer and director Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios between 1984 and 1994.
Quibi specializes in original, five to ten-minute video streaming for smartphones. The company’s CEO is Meg Whitman, former president and CEO of Hewlett Packard but known best for her 2010 bid for California governor.
Their investors include Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony, Viacom, and AT&T’s newly-rebranded WarnerMedia.
Quibi will go live with 50 different series and by the end of the first year, they will present 175 series cut to 8,500 “quick bites” (episodes). They are planning further feature-length films broken down into chapters, game shows, reality shows, news broadcasts, and more.
According to The Verge, a lawsuit against Quibi filed on Tuesday from interactive video developer Eko. The company alleges the technology that handles the way videos show up on phones was stolen from her. The company said a demo presented to employees of Quibi, including Jeffrey Katzenberg himself.
