Could Letterboxd, the popular film-review social network, end up in the clutches of Netflix or another big entertainment corporation?
Letterboxd, founded in 2011, has been shopping itself to interested parties in recent months. The app and website (which also recently launched an online video-rental service) is majority-owned by Canadian holding company Tiny, which acquired a 60% stake in Letterboxd in 2023 at a valuation of $50 million-$60 million. Letterboxd co-founders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow own the remaining 40% share.
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Letterboxd’s owners have held early talks with a number of potential buyers — including Netflix, according to an unconfirmed report by Puck. Others reportedly looking at Letterboxd include Sony Pictures Entertainment, David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance (and RedBird Capital Partners, a key Paramount financial backer) and private-equity giant TPG. Also supposedly kicking the tires on Letterboxd is Reddit co-creator Alexis Ohanian, who is founder and general partner of VC firm Seven Seven Six.
The prospect of the likes of Netflix, Sony or Paramount owning Letterboxd may appear to introduce inherent conflicts — raising questions of whether they would somehow give preference to their own titles. Note that film-rating site Rotten Tomatoes was part of NBCUniversal for years, although some critics have slammed that ownership structure as being problematic.
Rotten Tomatoes and movie-ticketing and streaming service Fandango are now part of Versant Media, which was spun out from Comcast/NBCU earlier this year. In April, Semafor reported that Versant had held talks about buying Letterboxd.
As of June 2026, Letterboxd has more than 30 million members globally, after packing on 10 million last year alone. The site saw a surge in popularity during the COVID pandemic.
The Letterboxd sales process is being handled by investment and merchant bank LionTree, which has been “floating” a rich $250 million valuation, per the Puck report.
Letterboxd, which is based in Auckland, New Zealand, has declined to comment on the sales chatter. Netflix and Paramount also declined to comment. Execs for Tiny didn’t respond to a request for comment. Variety has reached out to reps for Sony Pictures and TPG.
Asked for comment on the report that he was looking at a deal for Letterboxd, Ohanian replied in a text message, “Man I can’t sneeze without someone taking about it lol.”
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
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