The New York Times Company has reportedly “entered exclusive negotiations” to acquire Letterboxd for $330m, according to a report in the Times itself, TechCrunch reported on Thursday 5 November. The company declined to comment to its own paper.
What Letterboxd is
Letterboxd is a social platform where film fans log, rate and review what they watch. It is free, with advanced features behind a paid subscription. It reported 3 million users in January 2021 and 28 million by April 2026, and more than half of its users are under 35.
Letterboxd had been reported to be looking for a new owner. According to the Times, the film studios A24 and Sony were also interested, and A24 was priced out. Projected earnings for this year are estimated at $15m, about 4.5% of the reported price.
What it means for founders and investors
A price of about 22 times projected earnings, by our arithmetic from the reported figures, is a bet on audience rather than on current profit: a young, engaged user base that a subscription publisher can try to bring into its bundle. For founders building community products, the deal is a reminder that strategic buyers will pay for engaged users in a niche they cannot easily build themselves.
Corrected on 12 November 2026: an earlier version of this article included figures and details that are not in the reporting it cited. They have been removed.
