The potential sale of Letterboxd has attracted interest from some of Hollywood’s biggest companies, but reports that Netflix is already in talks to acquire the influential film platform appear to be getting way ahead of the actual process.
Variety reported Friday that Netflix was “in talks to buy Letterboxd” (they’ve since already dialed back their headline to save face), with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount, private equity firms, and other potential buyers also circling. But Puck’s Matthew Belloni, whose original reporting formed the basis of Variety’s story, quickly pushed back against that poorly-framed characterization.
“Ugh, this is a gross overstatement of my report,” Belloni wrote on social media. “It’s very early, and Netflix is among many taking meetings.”
According to Belloni’s original report, management meet-and-greets have begun as part of a sales process for Letterboxd, which has amassed more than 26 million users and become an increasingly important promotional platform for movies. Netflix, Sony, and Paramount are among the Hollywood companies participating in meetings at this initial stage, alongside private equity firms TPG and RedBird and media investor Alexis Ohanian, the Reddit co-founder.
That distinction is significant: Belloni reported that the companies are taking preliminary meetings, not that Netflix or any other prospective buyer has entered advanced negotiations or emerged as a frontrunner.
Canadian holding company Tiny, which acquired a 60% stake in Letterboxd in a 2023 transaction valuing the company at approximately $50 million, began exploring a sale earlier this year. LionTree is overseeing the process, with bankers reportedly floating a valuation of roughly $250 million.
Belloni suggested that the figure may be ambitious for a platform that has developed considerable cultural influence without yet generating comparable revenue. Letterboxd has nevertheless become a rare digital-media success story, combining a devoted cinephile community with growing importance to studios marketing theatrical releases.
Versant, the Comcast spinoff that owns Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, was previously identified as an interested party and could use Letterboxd to promote films and sell tickets. Belloni also suggested private equity, People Inc., or The New York Times Company as potentially better fits, though those were his own assessments rather than confirmed bidders.
Even the prospect of a studio or streamer takeover is already alarming Letterboxd users online (log on to Twitter to read the anxiety and blowback), with some threatening to abandon the platform—though Belloni doubts CEO Matthew Buchanan would favor that path. For now, Netflix, Sony, Paramount, and others are only taking early meetings—not entering serious acquisition talks—but that alone has rattled users, and Letterboxd brass has almost certainly taken notice. Stay tuned to see how this develops.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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