New York Times Reportedly Near $330 Million Deal for Letterboxd

The New York Times Company has entered exclusive negotiations to buy Letterboxd for $330 million, according to a report published by the New York Times itself. The price is striking: Letterboxd's projected earnings for this year sit at an estimated $15 million, meaning the Times would pay roughly 22 times annual revenue for the platform.

The deal, if completed, would give the publisher one of the fastest-growing hobby communities on the internet. The report is unconfirmed by any official statement — the Times Company declined to comment to its own paper — so the $330 million figure and the exclusivity of the talks rest on anonymous sourcing rather than a signed agreement.

What is Letterboxd and who uses it?

Letterboxd is often described as Goodreads for movies. Users log, rate and review films, follow each other's lists and build profiles around their taste in cinema. The core experience is free, with advanced features behind a paid subscription.

The growth numbers explain the price tag. Letterboxd counted 3 million users in January 2021. By April of this year, that figure had reached 28 million — more than a ninefold increase in a little over three years. More than half of its users are under 35, a demographic many legacy publishers struggle to reach.

Who else wanted the platform?

Letterboxd had reportedly been seeking a new owner before the Times entered the picture. According to the Times' reporting, two film studios expressed interest: A24, the indie studio behind a string of cult hits, and Sony.

A24, per the report, was priced out of the bidding. That detail matters. It signals that competitive pressure pushed the valuation toward the $330 million mark, and that media and entertainment companies see strategic value in owning a social layer around film discovery rather than merely licensing access to it.

The Times has not confirmed any of this on the record. The company declined to comment when asked by its own reporters — an awkward but telling posture, since acquisition targets and buyers routinely stay silent until deals close.

Why the numbers invite scrutiny

A $330 million offer against $15 million in projected annual earnings works out to a multiple of about 22, far above what mature media assets typically command. For comparison, the platform's entire yearly revenue amounts to just 4.5 percent of the proposed purchase price.

Buyers usually justify such premiums with growth, audience quality or subscription potential. Letterboxd offers all three: a young, engaged, subscription-familiar user base that nearly tripled in size in recent years. Even so, practitioners reading the tea leaves should treat the figure as a reported number, not a filed one — no regulator, shareholder document or press release has verified it yet.

The sourcing also invites a raised eyebrow. The Times reporting on its parent company's negotiations, with anonymous tips of unclear origin, leaves open the possibility that the information came from people close to the deal who wanted it public. That does not make it wrong; it does make it strategic.

What happens next?

Exclusive negotiations usually mean a short path to either a signed deal or a collapse in talks. If the $330 million purchase closes, the Times would add a 28-million-user community platform to a portfolio already heavy in subscriptions — and Letterboxd's founders would exit at a valuation few film-startup observers predicted when the site passed 3 million users in 2021.