The New York Times and A24 Joined a Crowded Field Bidding to Buy Letterboxd for More Than $300 Million

The New York Times and the film studio A24 have entered the bidding to buy Letterboxd, the film-focused social network that has grown into one of the more unlikely cultural forces in movie fandom, joining a field of suitors that already included Sony, Netflix, Paramount Skydance and two private equity firms. TheWrap's report on the bidding put the sale price above 300 million dollars, with the investment bank LionTree running the process on behalf of Letterboxd's majority owner.

A platform that outgrew its founders' expectations

That owner, the Canadian holding company Tiny, bought a 60 percent stake in Letterboxd in 2023 for between 50 and 60 million dollars, a price that now looks modest against a valuation running past 300 million dollars for a platform that had more than 29 million members globally as of May this year. Co-founders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow retain the remaining 40 percent of the company, meaning any sale would deliver a substantial payday to the pair who built Letterboxd from a niche film-logging app into a social network that studios and streamers now treat as a genuine marketing and cultural asset.

Second time at the table

Variety's coverage of the process noted that this is not the first serious approach Letterboxd has faced, with Versant and The Ankler having explored a possible deal back in April before talks stalled over price. Investor Alexis Ohanian, the Reddit co-founder, has also been named among the parties who have explored a stake in the platform, underscoring how broadly its appeal now stretches across media, technology and film investors rather than sitting neatly in any one category.

The conflict of interest question hanging over every bid

Whichever party ultimately wins the process faces an obvious tension: a studio or streamer owner would inevitably raise questions among Letterboxd's users about whether the platform might start favouring its own titles in reviews, recommendations or visibility, a concern that has already surfaced in commentary around the sale. A24 and a New York Times spokesperson have both declined to comment on the speculation, in each case reiterating a standard line about not discussing potential acquisitions, leaving the eventual outcome, and what it might mean for a platform built on the trust of its users, still an open question.