Flixster For Sale (Again)?
Yesterday, a source told me that Flixster, the fast-growing social network for movie lovers, was back in talks to be bought by Barry Diller's InteractiveCorp. — Those IAC-Flixster rumors flew about a month ago and were entirely true. — But no deal, it seems.
Context & Ripple Effects
Flixster has been shopping-adjacent before this report: just weeks earlier, commentary around Facebook's new ad platform speculated the social network for movie fans would be acquired outright (Facebook-era takeover speculation), and BoomTown itself says last month's IAC-Flixster rumors were 'entirely true' — yet no deal resulted. Today's item says those talks are back on.
The rumored buyer matters to how the deal would be read: Barry Diller's IAC bought Ask.com for nearly $2 billion in 2006 and has publicly framed Ask as the search spine knitting together its local operations, so a social-movie asset would be a new category for the portfolio rather than a bolt-on.
First-order effects
- Flixster gains negotiating leverage from competing interest: a second round of IAC talks within a month signals real buyer demand, which strengthens its hand on price and independence whether or not Diller closes.
- For InteractiveCorp, reviving talks means deciding whether a fast-growing vertical social network belongs alongside Ask in a portfolio so far built on search and local commerce.
Second-order effects
- If IAC moves, other suitors floated in the same season — Facebook among them, per the SocialAds-era commentary — face a narrowing pool of independent movie-social assets and may have to bid up or walk.
- Rivals in the social-entertainment space would inherit a consolidated competitor with IAC's distribution reach, pressuring smaller standalone fan networks on both audience and advertising deals.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward vertical social networks being absorbed into larger media and commerce portfolios rather than staying independent — with buyers valuing the community data and intent signals more than any single site's standalone economics.
- Whether Diller's conglomerate model or a pure-play internet company wins these auctions will shape who controls entertainment-focused audiences as ad targeting becomes the industry's central contest.
The trend: Fast-growing niche social networks are turning into repeat acquisition targets for big internet portfolios, with rumored talks recurring until a buyer finally commits.