The New York Times reportedly in talks to buy Letterboxd for $330 million
- ID
- 43629
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 06 Nov 2026, 8:07 AM
- Fetched
- 06 Nov 2026, 8:38 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/05/the-new-york-times-reportedly-in-talks-to-buy-letterboxd-for-330-million/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 2.5
- Created
- 06 Nov 2026, 8:38 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- founders
What happened
The New York Times Company has reportedly entered exclusive negotiations to acquire Letterboxd for $330 million, per a report in the Times itself. Letterboxd grew from 3 million users in January 2021 to 28 million by April of this year, with more than half its users under 35, and projects about $15 million in earnings this year — roughly 4.5% of the reported purchase price. A24 and Sony were reportedly interested, but A24 was priced out, and the Times declined to comment.
Why it matters
This is a media-consolidation story, not something AI, dev, or SaaS builders need to act on. The one concrete number worth noting is the implied valuation: about $330 million against ~$15 million projected earnings (roughly a 22x multiple) for a free product with a paid subscription tier — a useful reference point if you're ever benchmarking what a niche, community-driven subscription app can be worth. Otherwise, no tooling, policy, or platform change here affects your stack.
Discussion angle
Is a ~22x earnings multiple for a niche subscription community app a valuation benchmark worth citing in SEA founder/investor conversations, or is this just a one-off media-consolidation price that doesn't generalize?