Welcome to Axis ProRata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

Presented by Bridge Bank. Be safe. Venture wisely. I'm Danper Mac. On today's show, Uber is a big acquisition,

and California officials try to make nice with Tesla. But first,

the rise and quick fall of Quibi. You have probably heard of Quibi, the short form video streaming

app that was the brainchild of former DreamWorks and Disney Studios boss Jeffrey Katzenberg and

former Hewlett Packard and eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Or maybe you haven't, which could be part of the

problem. So Quibi

was formed in 2018 with the promise of big celebrity stars and directors creating 10-minute

episodes of everything from dramas to reality shows to news, likely for folks sitting on

subways on their way to work, or maybe in line for a sandwich during lunch break. And Quibi

raised a ton of cash, $1.75 billion, mostly from Hollywood Studios.

The service launched on April 6th, and since then, well, it's been a dud.

In just one week, it fell out of the top 50 most downloaded free iPhone apps,

despite offering a 90-day free trial and a one-year free trial for

T-Mobile subscribers. As of a few days ago, it had fallen out of the top 100, just behind a

kid's game where you shoot at crash test dummies and make them fall off buildings.

Now, Katzenberg, who I should note is an investor in Axios, told the New York Times recently

that he blames all of the troubles on the pandemic.

But Quibi's issues really do go deeper than that and raise serious questions as to the company's

future viability, particularly as the pandemic will impair its ability to create new content

and maybe discourage deep-pocketed investors from ponying up bridge financing.

The bottom line, short form might be how people remember Quibi,

...