Elliott Management founder and anti-snowbird Paul Singer must be a bit surprised to see short-form streaming video service Quibi collapse quite so quickly. He thought it had a pretty good idea, after all. Not the bit about five-minute-long videos, probably, or the actual videos themselves, since no one thought they were particularly good. But that Turnstyle technology that allowed the videos to work seamlessly well in either portrait or landscape, that was great. The only problem, as Singer sees it, is it already belonged to someone else, someone in which Elliott holds a stake and someone whose legal bills Elliott is paying.
So while Singer may not be lamenting the loss of “Dummy” or that “Fugitive” reboot—because, again, no one is—he is certainly lamenting his ability to make Quibi pay for that which he thinks it stole. Or not, actually, as he has other plans for the money Quibi plans to hand back to its investors, and can be patient if needs be.
After the shutdown announcement, Eko sought assurances from Quibi that the business wouldn’t sell off the Turnstyle technology and would preserve cash to cover a payout if Eko’s suit prevailed…. Richard J. Eichmann, an economist and valuation analyst hired by Eko, said in a declaration filed in court that he believes Quibi should reserve at least $96.5 million to account for the nonexclusive use “of the allegedly stolen intellectual property at issue in this case.” The remainder of the $101.9 million Eko is asking to be set aside is meant to cover legal fees and potential interest.
Quibi Adversary Asks Court to Freeze Some of the Streaming Service’s Asset [WSJ]