The New York Times Wants Letterboxd, and the Reported Price Shows How Valuable Movie Fans Have Become

Letterboxd started life as a passion project for 2 web designers who wanted a better way to keep track of the movies they watched. Founded in Auckland, New Zealand, by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, it was pitched as a “Goodreads for movies” and slowly grew into one of the internet’s favorite hangouts for cinephiles. Now the social platform is at the center of a major media story.

The site has become a cultural force in recent years, with big-name celebrities among its users. That rise has put it on the radar of some of the biggest names in media and film.

Letterboxd’s growth has been dramatic. TechCrunch notes the platform reported 3 million users in January 2021, a figure that climbed to 28 million by April of this year, and Reuters says it has reached 30 million users and is particularly popular among Gen Z film fans. More than half of its users are under 35.

Along the way, the company changed hands in part. Canadian holding company Tiny acquired a 60% stake in 2023 in a deal that valued the platform at $50 million to $60 million, while the co-founders kept the remaining 40%. At the time, Buchanan said the deal would leave very little else changed about how the platform operated.

Now The New York Times Company is in exclusive talks to acquire Letterboxd for roughly $330 million, according to the newspaper’s own report, which cited 2 people familiar with the discussions. No agreement has been reached, and the report said the talks could still fall apart. The Times Company declined to comment.

The proposed price is more than 20 times Letterboxd’s projected earnings this year of about $15 million. Under the plans that have been discussed, Buchanan and von Randow would stay in charge and report to a Times Company executive, while the platform would most likely continue as a standalone site for the foreseeable future. The Times would integrate its advertising technology with Letterboxd’s systems.

For the publisher, the logic is tied to its digital subscription push. The Times Company has 13.8 million subscribers and a goal of 15 million by the end of 2027, and Letterboxd would bring an established digital audience. Like the Times, Letterboxd earns revenue from both subscriptions and advertising, with free access and a paid tier that unlocks advanced features.

The deal would also continue the company’s expansion beyond its core news business, following acquisitions such as The Athletic. A film-focused social platform with a young audience would be a notable addition to that portfolio.

The Times was not the only company reportedly interested. The report said film studios A24 and Sony were among the prospective buyers, but A24 dropped out as price expectations rose. IndieWire reported that A24 had been in late-stage talks and had promised to keep Letterboxd independent and its business model unchanged.

Reports last summer also suggested that Netflix was interested. Letterboxd’s parent has been working with investment bank LionTree on a potential sale, and Semafor has noted that Buchanan retains veto rights over any potential buyer.

For longtime members, the biggest question is whether anything would change. Letterboxd has continued to expand, including opening a video store for digital rentals in 23 countries last year, and the proposed structure suggests the founders would keep running the site. The talks are still unresolved, though, and there is no confirmation that a deal will happen, so users will have to wait to see what the final terms look like.

That uncertainty is exactly why the news has drawn so much attention. A community built around logging films, writing reviews and making lists has become valuable enough to attract a major news publisher, which says a lot about how much film fandom has grown online.

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