Quibi, which remains the best streaming platform to bring up in casual conversation due to the fact that no one will ever know what you’re talking about, has reportedly entered the "exploring options" phase of its existence.
Per a Wall Street Journalreport from Monday, the Jeffrey Katzenberg-founded company is now exploring "several strategic options," with a "possible sale" said to be among them. According to the report, Quibi—which, sadly, is short for "quick bites"—hasn’t fared as planned with regards to signing up new subscribers. Other possible avenues ahead are said to include raising additional funds and/or going public via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.
For what it's worth, Quibi did launch back in April, i.e. one of the earlier months of the (ongoing) COVID-19 fuckery. In fact, Katzenberg previously blamed the pandemic for Quibi's troubles.
"I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus. Everything. But we own it," Katzenberg told the New York Times back in May. In the same interview, Katzenberg also expressed some hindsight-enabled wisdom about not choosing to delay the launch date. At the time, however, he said he didn’t regret it due to the fact that Quibi was "making enough gold out of hay."
In a statement in response to Monday's news, a Quibi spokesperson offered the following:
"Quibi has successfully launched a new business and pioneered a new form of storytelling and state-of-the-art platform. Meg and Jeffrey are committed to continuing to build the business in the way that gives the greatest experience for customers, greatest value for shareholders and greatest opportunity for employees. We do not comment on rumor or speculation."
At any rate, news of the latest developments in Quibiville didn't go unnoticed on Monday:
At least the Quibi era inadvertently gave us this fine slice of comedy:
