Key facts
- The New York Times Company is in exclusive talks to acquire Letterboxd for about $330 million, the Times reported, citing two people familiar with the discussions.
- The price under consideration would value Letterboxd at more than 20 times its projected earnings of about $15 million for 2026, according to the newspaper.
- Letterboxd's parent has been working with investment bank LionTree on a potential sale, the report said.
- Film studios A24 and Sony had been among prospective buyers but A24 later dropped out as price expectations increased, the report said.
- The Times Company and Letterboxd have discussed keeping co-founders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in charge of the business, the report said.
- The Times Company would integrate its advertising technology with Letterboxd's systems, and the platform would likely continue operating as a standalone site, according to the report.
The New York Times Company is in exclusive talks to acquire Letterboxd, a social platform where users rate and review films, for about $330 million, the Times reported on November 5, 2026, citing two people familiar with the discussions. No agreement has been reached and the talks could still fall apart, the report said.
The price under consideration would value Letterboxd at more than 20 times its projected earnings of about $15 million for 2026, according to the newspaper. The Times Company declined to comment, while Letterboxd did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
Letterboxd, launched in 2011 by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, has grown rapidly since 2020, reaching 30 million users, and is particularly popular among Gen Z film fans, who are more likely than other generations to visit cinemas, according to Statista, an online research website.
The Times Company and Letterboxd have discussed keeping Buchanan and von Randow in charge of the business, with the founders reporting to a Times Company executive, the report said. Letterboxd's parent has been working with investment bank LionTree on a potential sale, the report said.
Film studios A24 and Sony had been among prospective buyers but A24 later dropped out as price expectations increased, the report said. The Times Company would integrate its advertising technology with Letterboxd's systems, according to the report, which added that the film platform would likely continue operating as a standalone site for the foreseeable future.
A deal would extend the media organization's push beyond its core news business, following acquisitions including sports site The Athletic, product-review service Wirecutter and the Wordle game. The company added 420,000 digital-only subscribers in the third quarter, bringing total paid subscribers to 13.8 million.