Who Owns Fandango?

Fandango was founded in 2000 by James Michael Cline as an online movie ticketing service, originally operating under the domain ticketmakers.com. The company was created to address the growing need for online movie ticket purchasing as internet adoption increased. Fandango was initially backed by major theater chains and technology investors, raising $30 million in venture funding in 2000 from investors including Accretive LLC and General Atlantic, followed by a $15.3 million Series C round in 2003 led by TCV.

Throughout the early 2000s, Fandango grew rapidly as moviegoers increasingly embraced online ticket purchasing. The company expanded its partnerships with theater chains across the United States and introduced mobile ticketing capabilities as smartphones became prevalent.

In April 2007, Comcast acquired Fandango for approximately $200 million. Following the acquisition, Fandango was integrated into Comcast's NBCUniversal entertainment portfolio, providing the ticketing service with additional resources and strategic positioning within the entertainment industry. Fandango was initially merged with Comcast's Fancast.com entertainment site.

Throughout the 2010s, Fandango expanded its portfolio through strategic acquisitions. In 2014, the company acquired MOVIECLIPS, a movie clip platform. In January 2016, Fandango acquired M-GO, a digital movie purchase and rental service, which was later rebranded as FandangoNOW. In February 2016, Fandango acquired Flixster, a movie information and discovery platform, from Warner Bros. Entertainment. The Flixster acquisition also brought Rotten Tomatoes under Fandango's ownership, as Warner Bros. had owned both properties. In December 2016, Fandango acquired Cinepapaya, a Peru-based movie ticketing platform serving Latin American markets.

In 2017, Fandango acquired MovieTickets.com, a competing movie ticketing platform, consolidating its position in the U.S. ticketing market. In 2020, Fandango acquired Vudu, a digital movie purchase and streaming service, from Walmart. Vudu was subsequently merged with FandangoNOW, and the combined service was rebranded as Fandango at Home. As part of the Vudu transaction, Warner Bros. Discovery (then WarnerMedia) acquired a 25% stake in Fandango.

In November 2024, Comcast announced its intent to spin off a portfolio of NBCUniversal cable television networks and digital assets, including Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, into a new publicly traded company temporarily named "SpinCo." The spinoff was completed in January 2026, and the new company was named Versant Media Group, trading on NASDAQ under ticker VSNT. Versant is led by CEO Mark Lazarus, former chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group.

In Q4 2025, Versant completed the acquisition of INDY Cinema Group, strengthening Fandango's digital and B2B platform capabilities. In 2026, Fandango announced plans to launch an ad-supported streaming service under the Fandango at Home brand, combining ticketing, home entertainment, and free ad-supported streaming under one platform.