The New York Times Company has entered exclusive negotiations to buy Letterboxd, the film-fan social network, in a deal reported at about $330m, according to the Times’s own account on Thursday 5 November 2026, citing two people familiar with the talks. No agreement has been reached, the report said, and the talks could still fall apart. Neither the Times Company nor Letterboxd had confirmed the terms, and a Times spokesperson declined to comment.
Key facts
- Price: about $330m, reported as more than 20 times Letterboxd’s projected 2026 earnings of about $15m
- Seller: Tiny, a Canadian holding company that bought 60% in 2023 at a reported valuation of $50m–$60m; co-founders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow hold the other 40%
- Status: exclusive negotiations, not a signed deal
- Rivals: A24 dropped out as the price rose; IndieWire names Sony Pictures Entertainment as the other finalist, while Deadline says A24 was the only other remaining bidder
- Plan discussed: the founders stay in charge, reporting to a Times Company executive, and Letterboxd stays a standalone site for the foreseeable future
What has been reported
The Times Company, which publishes the newspaper and owns The Athletic, Wirecutter and Wordle, would integrate its advertising technology into Letterboxd, according to Reuters’ summary of the report. The Times and Letterboxd have discussed keeping Buchanan and von Randow at the head of the business. Deadline said separately that it had confirmed the advanced talks. Deadline notes that it is unclear whether the bid includes the founders’ own stakes, 20% each, and that Letterboxd said when Tiny began its sale process that the pair would be involved in any decision on its future.
IndieWire says Tiny has been exploring a sale since April, and Deadline reports that it hired the investment bank LionTree to run the process. Variety wrote in September that the Times Company and A24 were among the bidders, and that Netflix, Sony, Skydance, the investment firm TPG and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian had also shown interest. IndieWire says A24 was in late-stage talks and had promised the founders independence and an unchanged business model. Deadline adds that the nonprofit Intrinsic Entertainment told it on Thursday it had assembled investors and was several weeks from a $300m offer; that is the group’s own claim and it has not been tested.
The business Letterboxd has built
Founded in 2011 in New Zealand, Letterboxd lets users log, rate and review the films they watch. User numbers differ by source: Variety and Reuters say about 30 million, IndieWire gives 26 million, and TechCrunch cites 28 million from April. The company has not said how many pay for its Pro or Patron tiers. Last year it launched an online film-rental service, available in 23 countries, according to Variety. IndieWire notes it has promised features such as logging television that have yet to arrive.
By our arithmetic, $330m is roughly 5.5 to 6.6 times the reported 2023 valuation of $50m–$60m, and more than 20 times the $15m of projected earnings.
What the Times Company gets
IndieWire says the Times Company has a goal of 15 million paid subscribers by the end of 2027. Reuters puts its total at 13.8 million after it added 420,000 digital-only subscribers in the third quarter. IndieWire suggests that Letterboxd could be tied into the Times’s film and TV coverage or bundled with its other products. That is the outlet’s speculation, not anything the companies have announced.
Next steps
The next documents to watch are an announcement from the Times Company or Letterboxd, and a statement on the founders’ roles and Letterboxd’s editorial independence.
For related business coverage, see FilmBunch’s reports on Sony Pictures’ quarterly results, Skydance’s TV and streaming reshuffle and EloElo’s $80m Series C. More under Deals.
Our reading
A price above 20 times earnings is a bet on reach more than on current profit. If it closes, a platform where audiences rate and discuss films would belong to a publisher with subscription and advertising businesses, not to a studio or distributor with a slate to promote. Until a deal is signed, the facts are a reported price, an exclusivity period and a founder arrangement under discussion.
Sources
- Variety, New York Times in exclusive negotiations to acquire Letterboxd (5 November 2026; price, A24 and bidders, ownership)
- Deadline, New York Times in advanced talks to buy Letterboxd (5 November 2026; founders’ stakes, LionTree, Intrinsic Entertainment)
- IndieWire, Letterboxd finalizing sale to The New York Times (5 November 2026; Sony and A24 as finalists, user numbers)
- Reuters, via Investing.com, New York Times Company in advanced talks to acquire Letterboxd (5 November 2026; subscriber figures, ad tech)
- TechCrunch, The New York Times reportedly in talks to buy Letterboxd (5 November 2026)