MUBI CEO Efe Cakarel has addressed the continued controversy over the corporate’s current $100 million funding from Sequoia Capital, a enterprise capital agency that was discovered to have ties to a number of corporations related to the Israeli army. In a prolonged assertion shared with the press Thursday, August 14, Cakarel clarified the earnings MUBI generates don’t fund different corporations in Sequoia’s portfolio, and a suggestion that their work is funding the warfare in Gaza is “merely unfaithful.”
Cakarel additionally wrote that Sequoia accomplice Shaun Maguire, who has come underneath fireplace for social media posts accused of being Islamaphobic, has no involvement with MUBI operationally or strategically, that the corporate doesn’t endorse his views, and have expressed issues to Sequoia. He additionally shares that Sequoia is merely a minority investor with out oversight over programming, editorial, or monetary selections. Cakarel stays the bulk shareholder in MUBI.
Cakarel’s letter stops wanting returning Sequoia’s funding, a requirement from some that may be near-impossible with out Sequoia agreeing to promote its minority stake within the arthouse movie distributor. However the CEO wrote that MUBI will put in place an “Moral Funding and Funding Coverage” to determine future standards for funding companions, in addition to an artist advisory council of filmmakers and different cultural voices to tell the funding coverage.
That coverage will likely be printed on Friday, August 15, and MUBI is even inviting the general public to present suggestions on these pointers, the ultimate model of which will likely be printed October 15.
“We all know some in our neighborhood will need us to go additional, and others might really feel we’ve gone too far,” Cakarel wrote partially. “Our duty is to guard an area the place filmmakers and audiences can meet. Meaning being clear about how we’re funded, specific about how we defend creative independence, and humble about what we nonetheless must be taught.”
Along with an open letter signed final week by 63 completely different filmmakers demanding the corporate condemn Sequoia and take away accomplice Andrew Reed from MUBI’s board, IndieWire has realized that almost half of MUBI’s 400+ staff anonymously signed a letter calling on administration to return Sequoia’s funding.
The interior letter, obtained by IndieWire, demanded MUBI and Cakarel return the $100 million funding from Sequoia Capital, take away Reed from MUBI’s board, and “decline any future funding that implicates MUBI within the enterprise of homicide.” It mentioned the corporate’s ties with Kela, a protection startup based in 2024 by Israeli intelligence veterans following the October 7 terrorist assaults, in addition to two different Israeli protection corporations, makes MUBI complicit with genocide in Palestine and places the “firm’s future at critical danger.”
Although the letter was signed anonymously, 201 staffers throughout 9 departments at MUBI endorsed the letter that was then despatched to Cakarel and administration. The letter was despatched on June 16, two days after MUBI first issued an announcement on Instagram addressing on-line backlash. A pair of insiders who spoke to IndieWire mentioned the letter took place after they felt the June 14 Instagram assertion was insufficient and “dismissive” of the web criticism. Those that signed additionally objected to management within the very early days of the backlash referring to critiques as “trolling” and mis-informed.
“Already, key collaborators — together with filmmakers, artists, writers, and different companions — have expressed disappointment and concern over the Sequoia funding and questioned their very own future engagement with MUBI, some withdrawing deliberate contributions in consequence,” the letter reads partially. “There are mounting calls to boycott MUBI; members are canceling subscriptions, and filmmakers might quickly start to take away their movies from the platform and database … the Sequoia funding will inevitably proceed to hurt our popularity and our work, threatening our partnerships and our mission. Subsequent statements from MUBI management have been insufficient, failing to handle the basic contradiction this funding presents.”
“The response to the assertion was primarily anger, disappointment a couple of lack of accountability that it confirmed,” one member of MUBI’s international content material crew informed IndieWire. “The truth that it was not meaningfully partaking with any of the criticism however reasonably justification was a disappointment. Simply seeing the alignment with the funding reasonably than with the neighborhood, partaking with what could possibly be steps in the direction of coping with this in a extra moral method transferring ahead, was one thing that I discovered very disappointing.”
On June 18, two days after staffers despatched the letter, Cakarel convened your entire employees over Zoom and acknowledged the letter “displays actual ache, worry, and frustration that I don’t take calmly,” based on a transcript account of the assembly shared with IndieWire.
“I hear you. And I see you. And I do communicate for your entire administration crew after I say that,” Cakarel mentioned within the assembly. He defined that within the firm’s historical past, it had not historically made political statements, together with the warfare in Ukraine, the Black Lives Matter motion, or Brexit, however that’s as a result of “we imagine our platform ought to communicate by our movies.”
“That mentioned, I would like to emphasise we’re not impartial about humanity, we stand for dignity, for empathy, for freedom of expression, and for the worth of each human life,” Cakarel added.
He additional echoed feedback made in Thursday’s public assertion, together with that Maguire has no involvement with MUBI, and that MUBI’s earnings don’t fund some other Sequoia investments nor do they form editorial selections.
For a bit of staff who signed the preliminary letter, Cakarel’s clarification answered their questions, eased their issues, and felt their fellow staffers ought to transfer on.However the two staff who spoke to IndieWire in regards to the letter and firm assembly nonetheless felt unheard, they usually imagine they’re within the majority amongst their colleagues.
The insiders mentioned they felt unsupported by administration in tips on how to appropriately deal with the controversy when coping with companions or shoppers. Additionally they bristled at a survey despatched by administration that required figuring out themselves with an organization electronic mail deal with, fearing that talking out might have blowback for his or her jobs. A person with data of the scenario informed IndieWire the emails had been solely requested as a method of beginning a dialogue with involved staff.
“There have been individuals who had been working with companions and who had been feeling very uncovered, like that the corporate’s failure to reply substantively had then trickled all the way down to the person staff who had been now representing the corporate in our personal skilled relationships that in fact the corporate depends on and and derives worth from, however that we weren’t supported in understanding tips on how to tips on how to handle these relationships by this very controversial resolution,” a second member of MUBI’s content material crew informed IndieWire.
The insiders would nonetheless prefer to see Sequoia’s funding returned, however it’s been clear to them for a while that such a step could be extremely unlikely. One of many staff expressed a need for an moral framework very similar to the one Cakarel laid out on Thursday, in addition to the corporate taking a stand in opposition to Maguire’s feedback.
Above all, they need to see the corporate’s values mirrored within the actions MUBI’s management makes.
“We maintain being informed that this funding just isn’t going to have an effect on our values, however we don’t perceive anymore I believe what these values are,” the second content material crew staffer mentioned. “I believe most individuals would think about that the values of an organization are mirrored of their enterprise selections. If MUBI goes to be this flagship producer and distributor of artwork home movie, which is part of the tradition that all of us have deep investments in and care deeply about, we need to make sure that it may be a accountable steward for that work and that our personal efforts aren’t going to waste or aren’t in service of of an organization that doesn’t finally care in regards to the work in the way in which that we do.”
Learn Cakarel’s full assertion issued on Thursday, in addition to the inner message from staffers despatched on June 16, beneath:
To our neighborhood,
I need to thank everybody who has taken the time to achieve out over the previous few weeks. Your phrases, your questions, and your issues have all been heard and brought to coronary heart.
I’ve spent these weeks in deep reflection, speaking with our crew, filmmakers, producers, and companions around the globe. We’ve been exploring tips on how to take considerate and decisive motion whereas upholding the values which have at all times guided us.
What’s occurring in Gaza is unbelievably tragic and devastating. The lack of civilian lives, together with hundreds of kids, the destruction of houses, hospitals, and cultural establishments, and the deliberate focusing on of a whole inhabitants’s potential to outlive and thrive are unconscionable. We condemn all acts that hurt harmless civilians and reaffirm the fitting of all individuals to dwell in peace and security. The immense struggling, displacement, and hunger of the Palestinian individuals is a humanitarian disaster that should finish. We stand firmly in opposition to warfare and tyranny in all types, and in help of the dignity and freedom of all individuals.
I additionally need to make clear our relationship with Sequoia Capital and Shaun Maguire. Following the funding from Sequoia, some have advised that we’re complicit within the occasions occurring in Gaza. These accusations are basically at odds with the values we maintain as people and as an organization. The earnings MUBI generates don’t fund some other corporations in Sequoia’s portfolio. Our returns go to Sequoia’s restricted companions — establishments corresponding to universities, foundations, and pension funds — to not different Sequoia-backed companies corresponding to Kela. Any suggestion that our work is related to funding the warfare is just unfaithful.
Shaun Maguire, the Sequoia accomplice on the middle of a lot of this controversy, just isn’t a accomplice of any of the funds that invested in MUBI. He has no involvement with our firm operationally, strategically, or in any capability. He isn’t on our board, has no relationship with our crew, and performed no function in our partnership with Sequoia. We neither help nor endorse Shaun’s views, and we’ve voiced our robust issues about his public statements on to Sequoia.
Lastly, as a minority investor, Sequoia has minimal involvement in MUBI. Because the founder and CEO, I stay the biggest shareholder and preserve full management over all enterprise and curatorial selections. Sequoia has no oversight or authority over our programming, editorial, or monetary selections.
That mentioned, we acknowledge that how we fund our work issues, and we’re sharing initiatives we’re endeavor to make sure readability round our funding course of sooner or later. We’re formalizing an Moral Funding and Funding Coverage that may set clear standards for future funding companions, set up safeguards that separate investor pursuits from editorial and commissioning selections, and description a course of to overview and deal with any issues that come up. The coverage will likely be printed on August 15, 2025 for public session, inviting suggestions from filmmakers, artists, audiences, festivals, civil-society teams, and all who care about MUBI’s mission. We’ll overview all submissions and publish the ultimate coverage on October 15, 2025.
We’re additionally forming an impartial Artists Advisory Council, to be established by September 15, 2025. This group will embrace filmmakers, artists, and cultural voices from completely different areas alongside a human-rights due-diligence knowledgeable. It can advise on the Moral Funding and Funding Coverage, endorse the ultimate coverage, and proceed on an ongoing foundation to supply impartial steering on issues regarding MUBI’s values and obligations.
Individually, we’re increasing our help for artists in danger by a devoted Artists At Threat Fund. Over the subsequent three years, we are going to fund commissions, residencies, and restoration initiatives administered at arm’s size by an impartial panel, specializing in filmmakers working underneath battle, displacement, or censorship, together with Palestinian filmmakers. Full particulars will likely be supplied by October 30, 2025.
We all know some in our neighborhood will need us to go additional, and others might really feel we’ve gone too far. Our duty is to guard an area the place filmmakers and audiences can meet. Meaning being clear about how we’re funded, specific about how we defend creative independence, and humble about what we nonetheless must be taught.
Trying forward, we stay dedicated to the identical mission that has guided us for the previous 18 years: elevating nice cinema and making it accessible to audiences across the globe. We’ll proceed to champion daring and various voices, keep true to the values that outline us, and be certain that distinctive filmmaking reaches the widest potential viewers.
Warmly,
Efe Cakarel
Founder & CEO
MUBI
—
16 June 2025
To Efe Cakarel and MUBI administration:
We write as MUBI employees members in response to current adjustments to the corporate’s possession
construction. Like a lot of our subscribers and companions, we’re deeply troubled by the information that
MUBI has accepted a big funding from Sequoia Capital, whose investments additionally embrace
Kela, an Israeli protection contractor; Mach Industries, a weapons producer partnered with an
Israeli agency; and Neros, one other producer of weaponized drones. This funding comes at
a time when Israel stands formally accused of genocide and warfare crimes by each the
Worldwide Felony Court docket and the Worldwide Court docket of Justice.
Our work is now remunerated partially by this funding, and the worth we create for the
firm might be put towards the Israeli warfare machine when that funding yields returns.
This makes MUBI, and every of us, complicit within the ongoing genocide of Palestinians by the
Israeli authorities, and places the corporate’s future at critical danger. We name upon MUBI to return
the funding from Sequoia Capital, to reverse the current appointment of Sequoia accomplice
Andrew Reed to MUBI’s board of administrators, and to say no any future funding that implicates
MUBI within the enterprise of homicide.
We stay devoted to MUBI’s undertaking of bringing the perfect in movie and cinema tradition to
audiences across the globe, and we all know how essential sustainable development is to our continued
success. We object to the Sequoia funding, partially, as a result of it compromises our firm’s
core values and endangers our development. MUBI’s principled help of impartial cinema from
various, worldwide filmmakers has attracted and impressed our trade collaborators and
audiences. It’s a part of an ethic that distinguishes us from different expertise and media
corporations, and that ethic is what makes us so dedicated to our work. This current enterprise
resolution goes in opposition to our guiding ethos, betraying our companions and the passionately engaged
neighborhood we’ve fostered during the last eighteen years.
Already, key collaborators—together with filmmakers, artists, writers, and different companions—have
expressed disappointment and concern over the Sequoia funding and questioned their very own
future engagement with MUBI, some withdrawing deliberate contributions in consequence. There are
mounting calls to boycott MUBI; members are canceling subscriptions, and filmmakers might
quickly start to take away their movies from the platform and database. The primary company-wide
inside communication described such appeals as “trolling” and expressed hope that the
scenario “quiets down quickly,” however we share the issues of our audiences and collaborators and
want to amplify them. The Sequoia funding will inevitably proceed to hurt our popularity
and our work, threatening our partnerships and our mission. Subsequent statements from MUBI
management have been insufficient, failing to handle the basic contradiction this
funding presents.
Along with urging that the Sequoia funding be returned, that Andrew Reed’s appointment
to the board be reversed, and that MUBI decide to by no means accepting funding from the worldwide warfare
machine, we ask administration for transparency on the next factors:
Did administration take due diligence to grasp Sequoia Capital’s full portfolio
earlier than accepting its funding in MUBI?
In that case, did administration increase issues about its investments in Israeli war-tech
corporations, both whereas negotiating the phrases of the funding or since?
What inside transparency procedures will likely be applied to make sure that employees are
knowledgeable and assured in regards to the enterprise selections of the corporate?
Administration has insisted in official statements that “MUBI stays an impartial
founder-led firm,” and that “current fundraising doesn’t have an effect on that independence,
our values, or our code of conduct.” How has administration ensured that the pursuits of
buyers may have no bearing on enterprise, programming, and editorial selections?
Regardless of statements on the contrary, investments in an organization are a fabric reflection
of its values. How will MUBI appropriate course to extra precisely mirror its values in its
possession construction?
We hope this letter is acquired with the great religion by which it was written. We care deeply about
MUBI and imagine this second is a chance to develop a greater firm tradition. We
respectfully request a written response by the top of the working day on Wednesday, June 18.
Thanks for taking the time to handle these issues.
Signed,
201 involved MUBI employees members from throughout 9 departments