‘Revolutionary’ Video-Streaming Service Quibi is Up For Sale Six Months After Launch; Apple, WarnerMedia, and Facebook Have Turned Down the Offer

The Information: Six months after launching his revolutionary video-streaming service, Quibi, Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is looking for a buyer. So far, he is coming up short [paywalled; alternative source]. Over the past few weeks, Katzenberg has pitched several tech and entertainment executives about buying Quibi, only to be turned down. Among those he approached was Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice…

Quibi Reportedly Weighs Selling Itself Less Than 6 Months After Launching

According to The Wall Street Journal, the mobile streaming service Quibi is exploring strategic options including a possible sale. “It is also considering raising more money or going public through a merger with a specially formed company that could help it fund deals,” adds CNET. From the report: It declined to comment directly on the report, but Quibi said in a…

Quibi Cofounder Jeffrey Katzenberg Blames Pandemic for Streaming Service’s Rough Start

Quibi, the streaming app veteran executive Jeffrey Katzenberg started with Meg Whitman a little more than a month ago — and for which it raised $1.8 billion — is off to a rough start. From a report: Downloads have been anemic, despite a lineup that includes producers and stars like Jennifer Lopez, LeBron James, Idris Elba, Steven Spielberg and Chrissy Teigen….

Quibi, JetBlue and Others Gave Away Email Addresses, Report Says

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Millions of people gave their email addresses to Quibi, JetBlue, Wish and other companies (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source) — and those email addresses got away. They ended up in the hands of advertising and analytics companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter, leaving the people with those email…

Streaming Video Will Soon Look Like the Bad Old Days of TV

An anonymous Slashdot reader shares an opinion piece from The New York Times, written by Matthew Ball, former head of strategic planning for Amazon Studios. Here’s an excerpt: The next 12 months will see several video services come to market, including Disney+, AT&T/WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, Comcast/NBCUniversal’s unnamed service, Apple TV+ and Quibi from the Hollywood executive Jeffrey Katzenberg. This increased competition…