Katzenberg's WndrCo Takes Additional $200M Funding for $1B Total
Something big is developing in the online video world. Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks founder and former CEO, has taken an additional $200 million in funding for his young company WndrCo, bringing its funding total to $1 billion. Katzenberg previously told Variety that his goal is $2 billion in funding.
WndrCo hasn't created any product yet, but Katzenberg's goal is a mobile platform called NewTV that creates premium short-form video clips targeted at younger viewers. Katzenberg has expressed interest in partnering with a telco or internet company. Perhaps Go90's recent exit from the market created a vacancy.
This latest funding comes from Disney, 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros., Entertainment One, and other companies in the media and entertainment space. CNN reports that previous funding came from institutional investors in the U.S. and China.
Rather than presenting self-contained short clips, New TV's idea is to offer longer premium entertainment broken up into short segments. Content will be organized into verticals such as entertainment, news, and sports. While there's doubt in the industry that this is what today's viewers want, there's also confidence in Katzenberg's ability to succeed with it.
Katzenberg hired Meg Whitman, formerly CEO of HP and eBay, as the new company's CEO, another decision that raised eyebrows. Deadline Hollywood says he's now recruiting studios to create original content for the platform.
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