Jeffrey Katzenberg Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo and CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz are among the investors in production payroll startup Wrapbook, which just raised $27 million in Series A financing.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorWhile Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi is dead and gone (except for a lingering legal dispute), his investment firm WndrCo is still actively funding other young startups.WndrCo co-led a $27 million Series A funding round in Wrapbook, a financial services startup catering to the gig economy initially focused on the entertainment industry.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorQuibi announced a deal last week with Roku, which acquired the bulk of the failed mobile startup’s streaming rights — some 75 shows, which the streaming platform plans to make available for free on the Roku Channel.But even though Quibi has now mostly wound down operations, the Jeffrey Katzenberg-founded company has retained a legal team to deal with the pending legal fight with New York-based interactive video company Eko involving Turnstyle: the technology that

In its biggest major original programming foray, Roku has bought exclusive global distribution rights to the portfolio of Quibi, the recently shuttered mobile-only streaming venture fronted by Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAnother top exec from Quibi, which flamed out in 2020 just six months after launching, has found a new gig: Rob Post, formerly Quibi’s chief technology officer, has joined Cameo — which sells personalized video messages from celebrities — as its new CTO.Post had joined Quibi, the ill-fated mobile streaming subscription service led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, in September 2018.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorQuibi, after its high-profile collapse, may be close to landing a deal with Roku to sell rights to its multimillion-dollar lineup of original shows.Quibi, the startup led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, is in “advanced talks” on a pact with Roku to acquire streaming rights to the Quibi catalog, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Quibi’s vast library of short-form content may have found a new home.

It appears that Bob Iger might have a future in public service after all. The Disney executive chairman, who once toyed with the idea of a 2020 presidential run, is at the top of President-elect Joe Biden’s wish list for a key ambassador post, namely China or the U.K., sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

UPDATED with details of last stages of shutdown. The end credits have finished rolling for Quibi, the ambitious short-form subscription video service that launched last April at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAs previously announced, the Quibi app as of Tuesday (Dec. 1) is no longer operable — marking the quick and quiet end of Jeffrey Katzenberg’s ill-fated $1.75 billion quest to carve out a new corner of the subscription streaming-video market.The Quibi app will remain on users’ devices until they delete it.

James McClain Just days after announcing the final stage of Quibi’s spectacular flameout — the short-lived, short-form video streaming service will formally shutter in December — founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife Marilyn have finalized the $26.7 million acquisition of a brand-new home in Beverly Hills, as was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Despite a treasure chest of talent and money, the mobile-first shortform video service Quibi is the first major victim of the streaming wars. The company, which is shuttering on Dec.

On Wednesday afternoon, Jeffrey Katzenberg donned a suit and tie and joined an emotional video conference with the staff of Quibi from his Bel Air home. Together with Quibi CEO Meg Whitman, he confirmed the news that had been swirling for the past few hours: Their 6-month-old mobile video service would be shutting down after struggling to attract an audience for its shortform entertainment programming.

After raising nearly $2 billion in funding and promising to reinvent the way people consume entertainment programming, Quibi is shutting down. "It is with an incredibly heavy heart that today we are announcing that we are winding down the business and looking to sell its content and technology assets," Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman wrote in a public letterWednesday.

The quintessential comedy about ’80s-era greed, 1983’s Trading Places is historically significant for a few reasons. Foremost, it cemented Eddie Murphy’s film career.

James McClain Last month, former Dreamworks CEO-turned-founder of the struggling Quibi venture Jeffrey Katzenberg electrified L.A.’s luxury real estate market by inking a deal to sell his custom-built Beverly Hills home for $125 million in cash.

Short-form video startup Quibi is said to be exploring strategic options including a sale less than six months after its launch. The mobile-first service founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman is working with advisors to weigh several options, including raising more money and going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

To say 2020 has been a rough year for Quibi only paints half of the picture. Sure, company’s go through rough patches, as many are finding themselves in right now during the global pandemic.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorQuibi, the mobile subscription TV startup founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, is exploring “strategic options” for the company including a potential sale, the Wall Street Journal reported.Launched in April 2020, Quibi has raised about $1.75 billion from major studios and other investors and has banked dozens of original series coming from Hollywood A-listers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorQuibi, in its awards-season debut, picked up two acting trophies at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Thursday night.Both were for “#Freerayshawn,” a police drama from from executive producer Antoine Fuqua: Laurence Fishburne and Jasmine Cephas Jones won the acting awards in the short-form category.The first Emmy wins for Quibi, led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, don’t come as a surprise: The well-funded mobile streamer has paid handsomely for its originals

Norman Lear, Honoree at the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors. Official White House Photograph

Two decades before Jeffrey Katzenberg started Quibi, the video platform that has been struggling to find a sizable audience since its April 6 debut — but which was nominated for 10 shortform Emmys — the mogul tried a similar format with Pop.com.

A virtual fundraiser hosted by a veritable who's who of Hollywood Democratic donors raised $7 million for the Biden-Harris campaign Friday. The event, hosted the day after Joe Biden accepted the Democratic nomination for President, was hosted by Jennifer Lucas and Byron Allen, Amal and George Clooney, Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Ellen Bronfman Hauptman and Andrew Hauptman.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA virtual fundraiser co-hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg and George Clooney netted $7 million for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign on Friday, according to the organizers.The fundraiser featured appearances from Biden, running mate Kamala Harris, and their spouses, according to a release.

Ted Johnson Joe Biden and Kamala Harris followed up their convention week on Friday with an L.A.

Ted Johnson EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off of accepting the Democratic nomination, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their spouses are set for a fundraiser on Friday, with hosts including Jeffrey Katzenberg, George Clooney and Byron Allen.The afternoon event will be virtual, but it features an L.A.-centric group of hosts.

Why is Meg Whitman identified as former CEO of Hewlett-Packard rather than as current CEO of Quibi? https://t.co/pMdm9tw3WU— Josh Barro (@jbarro) August 17, 2020The non-shoutout for Quibi comes as the streaming service, spearheaded by Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg, has struggled to win over subscribers since launching in April.

Dade Hayes Finance EditorEXCLUSIVE: Quibi’s struggles since launching in April did not stem from a lack of promotion.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA judge on Tuesday allowed Eko to proceed with its patent infringement lawsuit against Quibi, though she dismissed three of Eko’s nine claims against the streaming startup.U.S. District Judge Christina A.

Quibi is shaking up the shortform Emmy categories this year. The mobile-first video venture of Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman scored 10 nominations across the five shortform categories, the most of any platform.

Dade Hayes Finance EditorQuibi, the Jeffrey Katzenberg-led streaming player whose early path has been altered by COVID-19 and other challenges, drew 10 Emmy nominations Tuesday in a rare moment of validation for the startup.The company, whose name is short for “quick bites,” dominated the short form categories, nabbing two of the five nominations for outstanding comedy or drama series, with Most Dangerous Game and Reno 911!It also took home eight of the 10 nominations in the actor and actress

flop no matter how much Jeffrey Katzenberg blames the pandemic for its failure, admittedly had a great day on Tuesday, earning 10 nominations in the short form categories, including Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for Most Dangerous Game and Reno 911!, and acting nominations for #FreeRayshawn's Stephan James, Laurence Fishburne, and Jasmine Cephas Jones; Most Dangerous Game's Christoph Waltz; Survive's Corey Hawkins; Dummy's Anna Kendrick; Flipped's Kaitlin Olson; and Reno 911!'s

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe fat wad of cash Quibi has spent on high-end programming paid dividends in one area, at least: Jeffrey Katzenberg’s streamer picked up 10 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations in short form categories.Of course, there’s no guarantee that Emmys nods (or even wins) can move the needle for Quibi, which has had a tough time signing up subscribers since premium mobile entertainment app’s launch earlier this spring — at the front end of the COVID-19 crisis.And note that

would be moving to online-only next year; the virtual event is expected to take place between January 6 and January 9, 2021.The event usually brings in upwards of 150,000 attendees each year, who come from around the world to check out the latest TVs, robots, and major tech news, among other attractions. The most recent CES, for example, stood out because Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman gave a first look at Quibi, the new mobile-focused streaming service.

Ted Johnson Joe Biden’s presidential campaign got a big boost in the latest quarter that brought it into closer parity with Donald Trump’s fundraising juggernaut, as the former vice president saw major contributions from a number of industry moguls and media titans.Jeffrey Katzenberg, who hosted an event for Biden last month, gave $617,800 to the Biden Victory Fund, the joint fund-raising committee set up for the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state parties.

Peter White Television EditorEXCLUSIVE: The last 30 years of reality television is to be the subject of a documentary series for Quibi.