London-based arthouse streamer Mubi was hit hard last year by a PR storm related to Palestine, CEO Efe Kakarel told The Wall Street Journal. But this year is brighter, he added, with a record number of subscribers, several Oscar-nominated films and six selections for the Cannes Film Festival.
As of the end of last year, Mubi had nearly 1.2 million subscribers, which is lower than it was at the beginning of 2025. The company’s internal goal was to reach 2 million subscribers, which required it to add 600,000 in the second half of the year. Instead, the number decreased by more than 200,000 people. The company lost $7.3 million on revenue of about $200 million, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
This downward trend comes after a period of stellar growth that began during pandemic-era lockdowns when subscriptions soared. Mubi has expanded into new countries, released more movies in theaters, and abandoned its policy of only streaming titles for 30 days.
In 2024, the movie won The Substance for $12 million, grossed $77 million, earned Demi Moore a Golden Globe, and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. This brought Mubi’s subscription count to a then-record 1.44 million in spring 2025.
But around that time, Sequoia Capital joined as an investor, a controversial move for Mubi’s leftist subscribers, filmmakers, and employees. Their favor with Sequoia was that it also supported start-ups that worked with the Israeli military, an association that was difficult for some to accept at a time when some critics were claiming genocide was occurring in Gaza.
This coincided with Mubi’s acquisition of Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, for $24 million. The film was a box office flop, grossing a paltry $12 million worldwide, but Mubi said it was popular on streaming platforms. Mubi announced in December that it had cut more than a dozen staff positions and overhauled its content leadership. At the time, the company employed approximately 400 staff across 14 international and U.S. offices.
“Losing subscribers, slowing growth, all of that was very real,” Cakarel told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday. However, he defended his collaboration with Sequoia, saying it allowed Mubi to “continue to support ambitious films.” Kakarel added that the company does not take political positions and “did not perform a portfolio-wide human rights audit of all investments made over several decades.” That said, Kakarel added, “I know that my job is to really listen, explain decisions more transparently and quickly, and create space for continued disagreement.”
Kakarel told the Wall Street Journal that the year has started well for Mubi, although some business and creative relationships remain strained. The company distributes four of the five Oscar nominees in some markets, had a record 1.7 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter of this year, and has at least six films selected for the Cannes Film Festival, people said.
Kakarel’s plans for the company remain unchanged, including plans to grow the business and expand into Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, he said. “We are being more cautious about our actions,” he said. “But the ambition is still there.”
Variety reported last week that Mubi had signed a multi-year co-financing agreement with investment fund manager IPR.VC to finance European auteur films.
Variety reached out to Mubi for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
