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Inside Quibi’s $2 Billion Fail – No, It Wasn’t the Pandemic

After just seven months and $2 billion, Quibi has became the first major casualty of the streaming wars. The short-form streaming company founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman announced Wednesday that it will shutter its operations. Launched in April in the early weeks of pandemic shutdowns, the subscription service targeting teenagers and young adults never gained any traction for shows told in under-10-minute “quick bites” meant to be consumed on smartphones — despite the involvement of big stars like Kevin Hart, Anna Kendrick and Liam Hemsworth. The widely publicized (and widely mocked) upstart becomes one of the biggest and most expensive tech flops of the past 20 years. Below, TheWrap looks at the reasons for Quibi’s short lifespan. Also Read: Jeffrey Katzenberg's Quibi Confirms Shutdown, Will Sell Assets 1. The wrong people tried to predict viewing habits of younger consumers Katzenberg is a longtime Hollywood executive responsible for the revitalization of Disney in the 1990s and for creating DreamWorks and bringing “Shrek” into our lives, while Whitman was a former Disney executive who made her mark in the tech world as CEO of eBay and later Hewlett Packard. But they are both in their 60s, far from the demographic...

Read original story Inside Quibi’s $2 Billion Fail – No, It Wasn’t the Pandemic At TheWrap