CNN shutters Casey Neistat’s video company Beme, which it bought 14 months ago for $25 million

CNN has shut down Casey Neistat’s Beme after buying the company for $25 million in November 2016, reports BuzzFeed News. CNN bought Beme in a bid to harness Neistat’s (at the time) 6 million viewers, with the hopes of turning the company into an independently operated daily online news show and a core part of CNN’s offerings that would appeal to a younger demographic. Neistat, however, was unable to figure out a viable strategy because of creative differences and sluggish process. Instead, he will be departing from CNN.

“I couldn’t find answers. I would sort of disappear, and I would hide, and I would make YouTube videos for my channel because at least I would be able yield something,” Neistat told Buzzfeed News. “I don’t think I’m giving CNN what I want to give them, and I don’t think they’re getting value from me.” When CNN bought Beme, it said Neistat’s company would focus on “timely and topical video and empowering content creators to use technology to find their voice.”

Beme currently employs 22 people, and CNN said it would re-employ most of the team, though some would lose their jobs. CNN plans to continue developing tech products developed by Beme, including an unreleased live-news app called Wire.

Neistat, a popular online filmmaker, launched Beme as a smartphone app in July 2015. It enabled users to record and upload short, unedited video clips that appeared on a feed. What made it different was that those videos could only be captured when your phone was held to your chest. The idea is to encourage authenticity by being unable to see what the video looks like on-screen. The app, however, shut down in January 2017 following the CNN acquisition, while the remainder of the team stayed on to work on the news product.