Short video-streaming platform Quibi to shut down six months after launch

Shortform mobile-focused streaming service, Quibi is shutting a few months after it was launched.

According to The Verge, the company has confirmed that it'll be shutting down in a Medium post from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman.

"We feel that we've exhausted all our options. As a result, we have reluctantly come to the difficult decision to wind down the business, return cash to our shareholders, and say goodbye to our colleagues with grace," the announcement reads.

There is any number of factors that can be pointed to in unpacking Quibi's demise: the launch of a mobile-only streaming service at the height of a global pandemic when users were stuck at home; the lack of any real breakout content that was compelling enough to tempt subscribers; or the fact that short-form video content has a nearly infinite amount of free competition in the form of YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms, as per The Verge.

It's not clear what will happen to the company's lineup of expensive, star-studded original shows and short-form films after the shutdown.

Quibi, which raised $1.75 billion, will continue to attempt to sell both the content and the underlying technology used in its apps in the coming months, however.

The company was launched on April 6, 2020, and was sought to distinguish itself by focusing exclusively on mobile devices at launch, complete with an innovative system where each show was filmed and edited in both portrait and landscape formats, allowing it to be viewed in any orientation on a smartphone.