A slew of Quibi shows has found new life in Roku.
Roku will acquire the library of the short-lived Hollywood company founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and has said it will stream its content with ads for free on its Roku Channel. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although it has been widely reported that the final number came in below $100 million – a far cry from the $1.75 billion that Quibi raised.
<p>"The most creative and imaginative minds in Hollywood created groundbreaking content for Quibi that exceeded our expectations," Katzenberg said in a statement. "We are thrilled that these stories, from the surreal to the sublime, have found a new home on The Roku Channel."</p><p>The deal will encompass virtually all of Quibi's library, minus some of their daily news clips, according to Roku spokesperson Dallas Lawrence. </p><p>Although Quibi was widely lampooned even well before <a href="https://dot.la/quibi-2648450202.html" target="_blank">its spectacular flameout</a> culminated in its dissolution only seven months after launch, it did have some critically acclaimed shows. The police parody revival of "Reno 911" and human-hunt thriller "Most Dangerous Game" were both nominated for best short form comedy or drama series. Jasmine Cephas Jones and Laurence Fishburne each won Emmys for their performances in #FreeRayshawn. That show was produced by Antoine Fuqua, one of several high-profile names attached to Quibi shows. </p><p>Roku's primary function has <a href="https://dot.la/quibi-on-roku-2649736644.html?share_id=6146460" target="_blank">largely been as a hardware provider for streaming apps</a> like Netflix. But this acquisition of over 75 shows and documentaries that it owns exclusively could reposition the company as a more powerful player. <br/></p><p>Roku is the most popular streaming-media player in the U.S. by hours streamed, ahead of competitors such as Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. The platform reaches homes with over 120 million people, said Lawrence. In November, the company reported 46 million active users and gross profit of $215 million, up 81% year over year.<br/></p><p>Shares of Roku were up more than 5% in morning trading.</p>
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Here are the latest updates on news affecting Los Angeles' startup and tech communities. Sign up for our newsletter and follow dot.LA on Twitter for more.
Today:
- Apple Podcast Veteran Steve Wilson Joins Startup QCODE
- Amazon in Exclusive Talks to Buy Podcast Studio Wondery, Wall Street Journal Reports
- Pharrell Launches Black Ambition Incubator
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Apple Podcast Veteran Joins Startup QCODE
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUzNTQzMC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDUzMzYyNH0.pOGV2lL0qOJQDiWw1T5i4SqsGfaL54hLWED6_5Mf1Ww/img.png?width=980" id="8d68d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f2a47797239f360473fead53338231d4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="qcode" />www.sonos.com <p>QCODE, a Los Angeles podcast startup run by a former Creative Artists Agency talent agent, snagged longtime Apple podcast executive Steve Wilson. The 15-year veteran will become QCODE's chief strategy officer.</p> <p>QCODE, which <a href="https://dot.la/sonos-podcast-qcode-2648395035.html" target="_self">last month raised $6.4 million</a> in a Series A round led by Sono, is positioning itself as a funnel for Hollywood. </p> <p>Founded by Rob Herting, a former agent who had represented largely writers and filmmakers, the company has produced eight shows since 2019. Several have been auctioned for film and television, including "Dirty Diana." Amazon picked up the 6-part erotic drama for a TV series.</p>Wilson, who most recently ran marketing for Apple Podcasts, brings insights from the behemoth platform as the industry sees revenues soar. Advertising brought in near $1 billion this year, according to Interactive Advertising Bureau's podcast report prepared by PwC.Amazon Reportedly in Exclusive Talks to Buy Wondery
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDc5NDU5OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MjgyMDY3NX0.BHKSXjwra-gGsFEa7lXCCCMJXWV5cYxrZqhddj3-uds/img.jpg?width=980" id="d401d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c9c9eee1f9adc4c1d5edeca1af986a84" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Hernan Lopez" />Hernan Lopez started Wondery with the belief that in-depth, narrative audio stories were poised to bloom.<p>Amazon is in "exclusive talks" to buy podcast company Wondery and subsume its 30 hit shows and over 8 million monthly listeners into its empire, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.</p> <p>The talks reportedly value Wondery above $300 million, in line with previous estimates from analysts, when Apple and Sony were said to have expressed interest.</p> <p>Wondery has produced dozens of original series including "Dr. Death" and "Business Wars," and has 19 shows currently in development to become television series. </p> <p>The company does not publicly disclose its financials, but chief executive Hernan Lopez has previously said the company is profitable. About three-quarters of Wondery's revenue comes from advertising, but Lopez has said the company's revenue share from content licensing is growing (Wondery owns the intellectual property for all of its originals). It also launched a subscription service, Wondery Plus, in June and is currently looking to expand its international footprint. </p> <p>Wondery, the West Hollywood-based company with the largest audience of any independent podcast producer, has been the subject of swirling rumors that several suitors are interested in acquiring it.</p> <p>After a pandemic-induced decline that struck much of the podcasting industry, Wondery's audience has surpassed its pre-COVID levels. Its Q3 revenue was about double year-on-year and its Q4 performance has been strong, Lopez previously told dot.LA. </p> <p>Podcasting overall now attracts over 100 million monthly listeners, according to Edison Research. The Interactive Advertising Bureau projects podcasting revenues to exceed $1 billion by 2021.</p> <p>That growth has spurred somewhat of an arms race, most evident in Spotify's spending spree, which also has helped that company diversify from its reliance on streaming. Amazon Music is one of Spotify's biggest competitors along with Apple Music, and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-music-joins-podcasting-fray-11600261201?mod=article_inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recently expanded into podcasts as well</a>. </p> <p>Acquiring Wondery would give Amazon more content to slide into Amazon Music, a scaled-down version of which is free for Amazon Prime subscribers. Combining that content with its Alexa smart speaker also could empower the company to capture more eyes and ears in the increasingly competitive attention economy. </p> <p>The talks are reportedly ongoing and no deal has been confirmed. </p>Pharrell Launches Black Ambition Incubator
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU3NDU2OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1OTc3NTM1OH0.qD_LA3B7rgAasJRgiMNup8vVcLMlbeEh_6aU__xF7hU/img.jpg?width=980" id="796a8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0246af1c20fc54b8835cf2a32abde021" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Pharrell Williams" />Pharrell Williams Launches Black Ambition Incubator<p>Rapper and producer Pharrell Williams released "Entrepreneur" with Jay-Z earlier this summer, a song that became an anthem for Black ambition. Now, Williams is launching an incubator to put money behind his message.</p><p>Called <a href="https://blackambitionprize.com/" target="_blank">Black Ambition</a>, the nonprofit aims to invest in Black and Latino startup founders, and it's beginning by creating two prize competitions set to close in July 2021. The effort backed by Adidas, Chanel and philanthropic organizations including The Rockefeller Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. Silicon Valley startup investor Ron Conway and Buzzfeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti also contributed. </p><hr><p>The first competition will award up to $250,000 to current students or recent alumni from a historically Black college developing or in the seed stage of a company. Smaller prizes will be awarded to at least nine additional teams. </p><p>The second competition, called the Black Ambition Prize, will give $1 million in seed money to an early-stage company focused on tech, design, healthcare or consumer products and services. Another nine teams will get smaller prizes. Finalists will be connected with and mentored by a network venture capitalists and angel investors. </p><p>"Because we don't have enough of the market share, our kids end up having issues with disproportionate access to healthcare, disproportionate access to education and as a culture, we have disproportionate access as it pertains to legislation and representation," Williams said in a video announcing the news.</p><p>Williams was inspired to pool talent from historically Black colleges and universities and build a new pipeline of investment and resources to young people. </p><p>"We want to lift our HBCUs. They lift so many of us. They deserve to be in lights," Williams said. "We think it's high time that we own more companies.</p><p>In August, Williams published a piece in Time Magazine that accompanied a cover spread on "<a href="https://time.com/collection/the-new-american-revolution/" target="_blank">The New American Revolution</a>." It coincided with his release of "Entrepreneur," the song and music video he produced with Jay-Z as <a href="https://dot.la/pharrell-williams-entrepreneur-2647055995.html" target="_self">a tribute to Black founders across the nation</a>. </p><p>"Recent events and tragedies have illustrated the always existent stark divisions in the American experience, and while entrepreneurship has long been a tenet of the American dream, marginalized people have faced long-standing barriers to success," Williams said in a statement. </p>From Your Site Articles
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Offices are likely to get bigger, not smaller. Major cities could hollow out. And more people will work remote.
Those are some of the takeaways from dot.LA's virtual strategy session held Tuesday on the future of commercial real estate with Brendan Wallace, co-founder and managing partner at Fifth Wall; Justin Bedecarre, co-founder and CEO of HelloOffice and Jen Nguyen, founding partner of TEAMWERC.
<p>We've rounded up three major points from the discussion below. Watch the full event below, and <a href="https://dot.la/st/newsletters" target="_blank">sign up for our newsletter </a>to get notified of future events. </p><h4>Smaller Cities Are Attracting More Knowledge Workers</h4><p>"Cities are in a fight for knowledge workers, they definitionally are. They want that tax base. They want that revenue base. They will try to appeal probably to younger, more mobile millennial, Gen Z workers and attract them directly and say, 'well once there's a core base in Salt Lake City, or in Wichita, or in Tampa well, that company will have to open an office there.' </p><p>It's more of a government to consumer marketing strategy than a government to corporation marketing strategy, and we're in the very early innings of that. And so, that literally would not have been possible. I think if two things hadn't happened, one, the forward progress of cloud-based collaboration tools didn't exist...And the second thing is (if) COVID hadn't happened because COVID was this unplanned forced test of the integrity of those tools and the integrity of a workforce that's working remote." </p><p><em>— Brendan Wallace, Fifth Wall</em></p><h4>More Employees Will Work Hybrid</h4><p>"The vast percentage of employees will be flexible.. And so they'll be close to a workplace. Maybe they'll work five days a week, maybe they'll work in the office one to two days a week, and go to the office to make plans to collaborate with their team to jam on the whiteboard. </p><p>"I think, at least you know 70 to 75% of all employees will be adopting the hybrid model." </p><p><em>— Justin Bedecarre, HelloOffice</em></p><h4>At the Office, There's More Space</h4><p>"We've seen the loss of 40% of real estate...because of the six-feet social distance. </p><p>"In some cases where we're talking about the knowledge-based tech workers, typically in San Francisco, you're seeing an average of 100 to 250 square foot per person. Now, after layering the social distance guidelines of the minimum six foot — which we don't even know today, if that is enough — you're needing at least 300 to 350 square feet more per person." </p><p><em>— Jen Nguyen</em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2e1ab2b153153ff10c0ed1e0b6f82a67"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bwne0vrRHhQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Copy of dot.LA Strategy Session: Office 2021, in Partnership with HelloOffice</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwne0vrRHhQ&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxMjkxOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTM5OTIxN30.WlaRjqg7McLgzovO9lfxPemfYv7IOSQiC3mzjB4b6Is/img.jpg?width=980" id="1de57" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="94ad06c75f5564b2041d87bfe32b6d8c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1474" data-height="2208" />
Jen Nguyen, Founding Partner of TEAMWERC
Jen Nguyen, Founding Partner of TEAMWERC
<p>Jen Nguyen is a founding partner of TEAMWERC, delivering best in class turnkey workplace as a service. She has a back to back track record building hyper growth inclusive award winning workplaces from the ground up. Founding workplace leader at Pinterest, Zynga, Tesla Motors and SAP Successfactors from their infancy through IPOs.</p><p>TEAMWERC will create a mindshift in how you approach your workplace bridging the gap between people and places, offering a plug and play expert team embedded into your organization. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMyODMxMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDY3MjAyMH0.TWThylu42WP8TYrjRa2qwYBCPfopj0q4zig_P-ym67c/img.jpg?width=980" id="2ca40" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="764902fbee52dc0a22d8eca583a9a42a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="369" data-height="369" />
Brendan Wallace, co-founder & managing partner at Fifth Wall
Brendan Wallace, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Fifth Wall
<p>Brendan Wallace is a co-founder and managing partner at Fifth Wall, where he guides the firm's strategic vision.</p><p>Prior to starting Fifth Wall, Brendan co-founded Identified, a workforce optimization data and analytics company that raised $33 million of venture funding and was acquired by Workday (NYSE: WKDY) in 2014. He also co-founded Cabify, the largest ridesharing service in Latin America, and has been an active investor, leading more than 60 angel investments including Bonobos, Dollar Shave Club, Lyft, SpaceX, Clutter, and Philz Coffee.</p><p>Brendan started his career at Goldman Sachs in the real estate, hospitality, and gaming group before joining The Blackstone Group's real estate private equity practice.</p><p>Brendan is from New York City and currently lives in Venice. He graduated from Princeton University, where he received his BA in political science and economics. He received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxMjkyMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODY4NDAzM30.tIGIXP4ZvQxgZwJZ899q82VGiCuByUVlbI1DXWvq7Eg/img.jpg?width=980" id="13e44" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="38959fbaa2523ad400b02d242ef5bc38" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="3633" data-height="5450" />
Justin Bedecarre, Co-Founder & CEO of HelloOffice
<p>Justin is Co-Founder and CEO of HelloOffice. a modern commercial real estate brokerage on a mission to help everyone find a workplace they love. By empowering experienced brokers with innovative technology, HelloOffice turns the painful traditional process of searching for office space into a faster and more collaborative experience. <br></p><p>From headquarters to hybrid workplaces, HelloOffice works with companies like Palantir, Y Combinator, Afterpay, Brex and many others around the world. </p><p>Justin started HelloOffice in 2016 in San Francisco, and before that co-founded 42Floors which was acquired by Knotel.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwNDk2OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTI3MTUyNX0.2hKVP8Tdj7rqPMGQ8elqkW-o5l0KnLxDAwdlTkxDJzs/img.jpg?width=980" id="d5a41" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e96166984a60c8b0d9ad71f904441b61" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="200" data-height="200" />
Ben Bergman, Senior Reporter
Ben Bergman, Senior Reporter at dot.LA
<p>Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior reporter, covering venture capital. Previously he was a senior reporter/host at KPCC, a producer at Gimlet Media and NPR and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times. Bergman was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. He enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.</p>From Your Site Articles
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- The Future of Real Estate: Bigger Offices and Smaller Chains - dot.LA ›
- HelloOffice Raises $20 Million Series A - dot.LA ›
- Fifth Wall Venture Firm Is Now a B Corporation - dot.LA ›
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