The Wall Street Journal - 04.03.2020

B4| Wednesday, March 4, 2020 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

TECHNOLOGY WSJ.com/Tech

wood studios. The company

declined to specify which com-

panies have invested in the

second round but said the mix

includes both new and existing

partners.

Quibi intends to distinguish

itself from a growing list of

subscription-streaming offer-

ings by carrying video series

that run 10 minutes or less per

installment and are supposed

to be viewed only on smart-

phones. Companies with exist-

ing or planned video-stream-

ing services include Netflix

Inc., Walt Disney Co., Apple

Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Com-

cast Corp. and AT&T Inc.’s

WarnerMedia.

For Quibi founder Jeffrey

Katzenberg—whose time in

Hollywood includes a stint run-

ning Disney’s movie studio in

the 1990s and the creation of

DreamWorks SKG with Steven

Spielberg and David Geffen—

Quibi is the highest-profile

venture yet launched by his

holding companyWndrCoLLC.

Drawing its name from a fu-

sion of “quick bites,” Quibi

aims to attract consumers

with a novel business model.

Unveiling a total of 175 new

original shows and 8,500 indi-

vidual episodes during its first

year, none of which will run

longer than 10 minutes, Quibi

is gambling that subscribers

will pay $4.99 to $7.99 a

month for access to narrative

chunks designed for on-the-go

consumption—similar to con-

tent popular on Alphabet Inc.’s

YouTube, but made with top-

shelf production values, cour-

tesy of acclaimed Hollywood

filmmakers and actors.

At launch, the service is to

carry more than 50 shows, ac-

cording to Ms. Whitman.

“I think within three or four

months we’re going to under-

stand what consumers

love...and we’ll be able to ad-

just our content strategy quite

nimbly,” she said.

Besides short episodes,

Quibi will also stand out as the

only service making new chap-

ters available daily—rather

than the traditional weekly

rollout common with network

TV or Netflix’s entire-season-

at-once approach.

Quibi intends to offer a mix

of programming including

drama, thrillers, comedy, real-

ity TV and news.

Quibi said last October it

had already booked $150 mil-

lion in ad sales from compa-

nies including Walmart Inc.,

PepsiCo Inc. and Alphabet’s

Google.

Short-form video streamer

Quibi said it has closed a sec-

ond round of financing worth

$750 million, bringing its total

investment to $1.75 billion

about a month before the ser-

vice’s planned launch.

The company said the $750

million includes about $400

million secured at the end of

2019. Quibi didn’t identify the
      recent investors or disclose
      how the investment values the
      company.
      “We always have to remem-
      ber it’s a new brand, a new
      product offering, a new tech-
      nology platform,” said Chief
      Executive Meg Whitman in an
      interview Tuesday. “We just
      want to make sure we have
      the financial flexibility and
      runway to build a long-term
      business.”
      The company originally tar-
      geted raising between $500
      million to $600 million in the
      second round, Ms. Whitman
      said last October. There are no
      plans to raise additional capi-
      tal this year, she said.
      The company’s first funding
      round in 2018 raised $1 billion
      from a group that included
      Chinese conglomerateAlibaba
      Group HoldingLtd. and Holly-

BYR.T.WATSON

Streaming Firm Quibi Bulks

Up Funding Ahead of Launch

Hewlett Packard Enter-
priseCo. cut its free-cash flow
projections for the year, citing
a supply-chain disruption that
was aggravated by the corona-
virus epidemic, and said it no
longer expects revenue to in-
crease this year.
HPE had previously pro-
jected a return to revenue
growth this year. But that was
before the coronavirus, which
has disrupted business around
the world. HPE sells servers,
data-storage gear and related
services to corporate clients.
The company said a short-
age of components was exac-
erbated by the coronavirus
outbreak and it faced some
challenges in consolidating a
manufacturing site in North
America.
Company officials said they
expect the issues to be re-
solved toward the end of the
year and maintained profit
targets for the year at $1.01 to
$1.17 a share in profit, or $1.78
to $1.94 on an adjusted basis.
HPE now expects $1.6 bil-
lion to $1.8 billion in free cash
flow for the year, down from
its earlier view of $1.9 billion
to $2.1 billion.
Revenue for the quarter
ended Jan. 31 fell to $6.95 bil-
lion from $7.55 billion a year
earlier, a larger-than-expected
decline.
HPE’s shares fell about 5.9%
to $11.85 in after-hours trad-
ing on Tuesday.
The Silicon Valley company,
born from the 2015 split of
Hewlett-Packard Co., reported
a first-quarter profit of $333
million, or 25 cents a share,
compared with $177 million,
or 13 cents a share, a year ear-
lier.
On an adjusted basis, HPE’s
profit rose to 44 cents a share
from 42 cents a share a year
earlier.

BYMARIAARMENTAL

Hewlett

Enterprise

Sees Weak

Revenue

The short-video service raised $750 million, bringing its total to $1.75 billion. Founder Jeffrey Katzenberg.

ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Mr. Uttley said.

By harnessing the proper-

ties of quantum physics, quan-

tum computers have the po-

tential to sort through a vast

number of possibilities nearly

instantaneously and come up

with a probable solution.

While traditional computers

store information as either ze-

ros or ones, quantum comput-

ers use quantum bits, or

qubits, which represent and

store information as both ze-

ros and ones simultaneously.

No commercial-grade quantum

computer has been built yet.

By 2023, a fifth of organiza-

tions, including businesses and

governments, are expected to

budget for quantum-comput-

ing projects, up from less than

1% in 2018, according to re-

search and advisory firm Gart-

ner Inc.

Mr. Uttley said Honeywell

expects its machine to be “the

world’s most powerful quan-

tum computer,” based on an

expected quantum volume of

at least 64. The computer’s

current quantum volume is 16.

IBM in January said its quan-

tum computer had a quantum

volume of 32.

Marco Pistoia, managing di-

rector and global technology

head of applied research and

engineering at JPMorgan

Chase, said he expects to use

quantum computing to speed

up computing-intensive calcu-

lations. Such calculations in-

clude Monte Carlo simula-

tions, which are commonly

used to calculate the theoreti-

cal value of an option.

Quantum computing could

also be used in portfolio opti-

mization.

JPMorgan could also use

the technology to detect fraud,

because quantum computers

can potentially take into ac-

count vastly more data points

than traditional computers, in-

cluding a mix of fraudulent

and nonfraudulent data.

Industrial conglomerate

Honeywell InternationalInc.

said it plans to introduce an

early-stage quantum computer

for commercial experiments

within about three months,

withJPMorganChase & Co.

as the first public user.

A Honeywell executive said

the machine is set to be the

world’s most powerful quan-

tum computer by one mea-

sure, as it vies for a leading

position in the nascent quan-

tum-computing market against

technology giants such as In-

ternational Business Machines

Corp., Alphabet Inc.’s Google

and Microsoft Corp.

Tony Uttley, president of

Honeywell Quantum Solutions,

said the technology will be

used by companies interested

in significantly speeding up

calculations and developing

new materials and new trading

strategies for financial ser-

vices. The technology could

also speed up calculations that

involve machine learning, for

use by industries such as aero-

space and oil and gas. Honey-

well already develops technol-

ogy for those sectors.

“We believe that quantum

computing is going to pro-

foundly impact a number of

industries,” Mr. Uttley said.

Honeywell also has recently

made undisclosed investments

in quantum-computing soft-

ware companies Cambridge

Quantum Computing Ltd.,

based in the U.K., and Boston-

basedZapata ComputingInc.,

BYSARACASTELLANOS

Speedy Computer

Gives Honeywell

A Quantum Leap

The technology will

help companies

significantly speed

up calculations.

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