Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry |
Technology Social media News |
Founded | 2014New York City, New York, U.S. | in
Founder |
Casey Neistat Matt Hackett |
Defunct | January 25, 2018 |
Fate | Merged with CNN Digital Studios |
Headquarters |
CNN Center, , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
Casey Neistat ( Executive Producer) |
Products | Beme News Beme Panels Beme (app) Exit Poll Live |
Parent | CNN (2017–present) |
Website | beme.com ( [1]) |
Beme Inc. ( /ˈbiːm/), stylized as beme, was a multimedia company founded by Matt Hackett and Casey Neistat, a vlogger and short filmmaker on YouTube. [1] [2] Beme Inc. was the creator of the mobile app Beme. On November 28, 2016, CNN announced that it would acquire Beme. [3] CNN intended to invest in the company and create a new brand focused on a young audience. [4] The Beme app was officially shut down on January 31, 2017. [5] Beme was merged into CNN Digital Studios on January 25, 2018. Despite this, the Beme News YouTube channel was still active for more than a year after the closure.
In 2014, Beme Inc. was founded by Matt Hackett and Casey Neistat. On July 17, 2015, Beme Inc. released a mobile app called Beme on the iOS App Store. The app enables users to produce unedited 2-to-8-second videos, which are immediately uploaded and shared with the user's subscribers, without the ability to preview the video. [6] On May 2, 2016, Beme was released for Android on the Google Play Store. At TechCrunch, in May 2016, Neistat informed that they had raised a total of US$6M and had 11 full-time employees (10 technical, 1 responsible for social media). He also reported that burn rate was around US $180k per month and that his salary was US$0. [7]
On November 28, 2016, CNN announced the acquisition of Beme Inc. for a reported US$25 million and became a subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. [8] In late 2017, cofounders Matt Hackett and Casey Neistat announced that they were leaving Beme and that it would be folded into CNN Digital Studios. A YouTube page titled Beme News made content until August 2019. [9]
On November 28, 2016, CNN announced the acquisition of Beme Inc. for a reported US$25 million. [8] On November 29, 2016, Matt Hackett, co-founder of Beme Inc., announced via an email to its users that the Beme app would be shutting down on January 31, 2017. [10] Since the shutdown of the app, it was announced that CNN intended to use the current talent behind the Beme app to work on a separate start-up endeavor. Beme's current team will retain full creative control of the new project which is scheduled to release in the summer of 2017. [11] Beme has brought on the host of Vsauce 3, Jake Roper, as Head of Production. [12]
On January 25, 2018, Casey Neistat announced on his YouTube channel that he and Beme co-founder Matt Hackett were leaving Beme Inc. and that Beme would be brought into CNN Digital Studios. Neistat will still be credited as an Executive Producer for the show. [13] [14]