Katzenberg is the creative mind behind Quibi. His former colleagues told Business Insider that he was "obsessed" with the concept of creating a new form of TV for smartphones.
In January 2018, he hired former seasoned Silicon Valley mogul Meg Whitman as CEO and together they raised $1.8 billion from investors like Disney, Sony, and Alibaba group. They secured hundreds of millions in ad buys from major brands like PepsiCo. They ensured big budgets and big names, with content produced by former DreamWorks cofounder Spielberg and featuring actors like Idris Elba and Jennifer Lopez.
"Meg and Jeffrey have a long history of building strong brands and tech platforms from the ground up," a Quibi spokesperson previously told Business Insider. Insiders told Business Insider's Ashley Rodriguez, Tanya Dua, and Becky Peterson that Katzenberg, while not responsible for day-to-day operations, was "the driving force behind the most crucial aspect of the business: its content." They detailed Katzenberg as deeply involved in every aspect of the company, even in decisions as minute as wardrobe.
The content, however, has yet to connect with viewers.
Quibi, short for "quick bites," was designed to be a streaming service imagined for viewers on the go. But it debuted in a world where viewers were almost certainly staying put amid a global pandemic.
In a May 11 interview with the New York Times, Katzenberg blamed the coronavirus for "everything that has gone wrong" for the app, which launched in April.
Quibi has been growing sluggishly: It was only downloaded 1.7 million times its first week in the app store. It has now been downloaded 4.6 million times. For context, its initial goal was 7 million paying subscribers within the first year.