Analogy 1: It's like **Zynga** (a mobile game publisher) combined with **Google AdMob** (a platform for app advertising and monetization).

Analogy 2: Imagine the **Google Ads** and **AdMob** of the mobile app world, but the company also owns and publishes many popular mobile games itself.

• AppLovin Software Platform: This comprehensive suite of services empowers mobile app developers to manage user acquisition, advertising monetization, and creative development for their applications.
  • AppDiscovery: A user acquisition service that helps mobile app developers find and acquire high-value users through targeted advertising campaigns.
  • MAX: An in-app bidding monetization service that optimizes ad placements and demand sources to maximize advertising revenue for app developers.
  • SparkLabs: A creative automation service that uses AI to generate and optimize mobile ad creatives for marketing campaigns.
• First-Party Mobile Games: A portfolio of mobile games developed and published by AppLovin, generating revenue primarily through in-app purchases and advertising.

AppLovin (symbol: APP) primarily sells its services and technology to other companies (B2B).

Based on AppLovin's public filings (e.g., their most recent 10-K report), the company explicitly states that no single customer accounted for 10% or more of its revenue in recent fiscal years. This indicates that AppLovin does not have major customers in the traditional sense, where a few entities drive a significant portion of its business. Instead, its customer base is highly diversified across numerous companies.

The companies that utilize AppLovin's platform and services primarily fall into the following categories:

• Mobile App Developers: These are companies that create and develop mobile applications, with a significant focus on mobile games. They leverage AppLovin's tools for user acquisition (to get more people to download and use their apps), monetization (to generate revenue from their apps through advertising), and analytics to optimize their app performance and growth.
• Mobile App Publishers: Businesses that publish and distribute mobile applications, often managing a portfolio of various apps. They use AppLovin's integrated platform to efficiently monetize their app inventory through advertising and to cross-promote their apps across different platforms.
• Advertisers: This category often overlaps with app developers, as many developers are also advertisers seeking to promote their own apps. Other advertisers might include brands or businesses looking to reach mobile users through in-app advertising. They utilize AppLovin's extensive advertising network to acquire new users and drive engagement for their mobile products.

Major Suppliers:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. (Symbol: AMZN)

Adam Foroughi, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

Adam Foroughi co-founded AppLovin in 2012. Before AppLovin, he founded two other marketing technology companies, LifeStreet Media Inc. and Social Hour Inc. He also worked as a derivatives trader. Foroughi led AppLovin through its successful initial public offering (IPO) in 2021, which valued the company at approximately $24 billion.

Todd Morgenfeld, Chief Financial Officer

Todd Morgenfeld has served as AppLovin's Chief Financial Officer since 2023. Prior to joining AppLovin, he was the CFO of Pinterest for seven years. Before Pinterest, he served as Vice President of Finance at Twitter and also held roles at Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm, and Goldman Sachs. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Princeton University.

Basil Shikin, Chief Technology Officer

Basil Shikin serves as the Chief Technology Officer at AppLovin. He is also a co-founder of the company. Shikin has been instrumental in building the technology and infrastructure that powers AppLovin's platform.

Victoria Valenzuela, Chief Administrative & Legal Officer

Victoria Valenzuela serves as the Chief Administrative & Legal Officer for AppLovin. She is responsible for the company's legal and administrative functions.

Katie Jansen, Chief Marketing Officer

Katie Jansen is the Chief Marketing Officer at AppLovin. She oversees the company's global marketing strategies. Prior to her role at AppLovin, Jansen held marketing leadership positions at other technology companies, including serving as Vice President of Marketing at PlayPhone.

The key risks to AppLovin's (APP) business are primarily centered around regulatory and legal challenges, intense competition in the mobile advertising sector, and its high market valuation.

1. Regulatory Scrutiny and Legal Challenges: AppLovin is currently facing significant regulatory pressure, including an ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and probes from multiple state attorneys general. These inquiries focus on the company's data collection practices, alleged violations of platform partner agreements, and accusations of utilizing unauthorized tracking methods, such as "fingerprinting," and engaging in deceptive advertising practices. Additionally, AppLovin has been a target of short-seller reports alleging manipulative tactics like "clickjacking" and "backdoor installations," which have led to securities class-action lawsuits accusing the company of securities fraud and misrepresenting its AI capabilities. The discontinuance of its "Array" product due to allegations of unauthorized app installations highlights the immediate impact of this scrutiny. These legal and regulatory headwinds pose a substantial risk of financial penalties, reputational damage, and mandated changes to AppLovin's core business model.
2. Intense Competition: AppLovin operates in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving mobile advertising and app monetization industry. The company faces formidable competition from tech giants such as Google (AdMob, Google Ad Manager, AdSense), Meta Platforms (Meta Audience Network, Advantage+), and Apple (Apple Ads), all of whom possess vast user bases and extensive data. This fierce competition could lead to erosion of AppLovin's cost advantage and compression of its profitability. The need to continuously innovate with its AI-powered advertising engine, AXON, to optimize campaigns and adapt to privacy-first approaches, such as Apple's ATT and Google's Privacy Sandbox, adds to the competitive pressure.
3. High Valuation and Market Volatility: AppLovin's stock currently trades at a substantial premium, with high valuation multiples, including a P/E ratio of 82.69 and a P/S ratio of 37.82 as of October 2025, and a forward P/E of 74.1x FY2025 EPS. While analysts see growth trajectory, particularly with their AI platform, as justifying the premium, this high valuation implies that the market has priced in significant future growth and performance. If the company fails to deliver anticipated results, or if its growth stalls, there is a risk of a significant stock price correction. The stock has experienced considerable volatility in the past, including a notable 14% drop following reports of the SEC investigation and a 32.3% plunge earlier in 2025 due to short-seller allegations.

The evolving and increasingly restrictive mobile platform privacy policies, exemplified by Google's ongoing implementation of its Privacy Sandbox for Android, represent a clear emerging threat. While AppLovin successfully navigated Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, the Privacy Sandbox is designed to significantly limit third-party tracking and targeting on Android devices. If AppLovin's technology and solutions fail to adapt effectively to these fundamental changes, or if these changes severely diminish the efficiency of mobile advertising and user acquisition methods that are central to AppLovin's business model, it could significantly impact its revenue and competitive positioning.

AppLovin (symbol: APP) primarily operates in the mobile technology sector, offering an end-to-end software platform for businesses to reach, monetize, and grow their global audiences. While historically involved in mobile games, the company is strategically divesting its mobile game development business to focus on its high-margin advertising technology platform.

The addressable markets for AppLovin's main products and services, which include its software platform for user acquisition, ad monetization, and analytics (such as AppDiscovery, MAX, and Adjust), are as follows:

• Global In-App Advertising Market: The global in-app advertising market size was valued at approximately USD 390.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 952 billion by 2034. Asia Pacific is noted as a dominant region in this market.
• Global Mobile Gaming Market (a key segment for AppLovin's software platform): The global mobile gaming market size was estimated at USD 139.38 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 256.19 billion by 2030. The Asia Pacific region accounts for a significant share of this market.

AppLovin's AI-driven platform (AXON) is also expanding beyond mobile gaming into broader digital advertising categories, including e-commerce and Connected TV (CTV) advertising, unlocking larger potential addressable markets:

• U.S. Connected TV (CTV) Ad Spend: The U.S. CTV ad spend is projected to reach USD 34.3 billion in 2025.
• Global E-commerce Market: The global e-commerce market has a footprint of USD 5.4 trillion.

AppLovin (APP) is anticipated to drive future revenue growth over the next two to three years through several key strategies:

1. Expansion into New Advertising Verticals: AppLovin is strategically pivoting from primarily gaming-focused advertising to a broader, multi-vertical platform, with a significant emphasis on e-commerce and retail advertising. The launch of the Axon Ad Manager and a self-serve platform tailored for e-commerce and non-gaming advertisers is a pivotal move, with early results showing promising growth in advertiser spend. This diversification is expected to broaden its advertiser base and reduce dependence on the gaming sector.
2. Advancements and Optimization of the AXON AI Platform: Continuous enhancements to AppLovin's proprietary AI-driven AXON engine are a core driver of future growth. These advancements include continuously upgraded ad delivery optimization algorithms, expanding self-learning capabilities, and the testing of generative AI for automated ad creatives to improve engagement and conversion rates.
3. Growth of the Self-Service Platform: The successful introduction and planned full opening of AppLovin's self-service platform, Axon Ads Manager, are expected to significantly broaden the company's advertiser base. This platform, operating on a self-serve, invite-only model initially, aims to open global opportunities for advertisers of all sizes and is seen as foundational for long-term growth.
4. International Market Expansion: AppLovin plans to focus on expanding its international footprint, particularly in non-English core markets such as Japan and South Korea. This initiative is aimed at broadening the reach of its platform and is considered a key growth focus for 2026 and beyond.
5. Continued Strength in Mobile Gaming Advertising: While diversifying, AppLovin anticipates continued strong growth in its core mobile gaming advertising business. This sustained performance is driven by ongoing model updates and enhancements to its AXON algorithm, which contribute to improved ad targeting and efficiency for mobile game developers.

Share Repurchases

• AppLovin's board increased its share repurchase authorization by an incremental $3.2 billion in October 2025, raising the total remaining authorization to $3.3 billion.
• During the third quarter of 2025, AppLovin repurchased and withheld 1.3 million shares of Class A common stock for a total cost of $571 million.
• Annual share buybacks were $981.297 million in 2024, $1.154 billion in 2023, and $338.88 million in 2022.

Share Issuance

• AppLovin's shares outstanding declined by 4.08% in 2024 to 0.348 billion from 2023, and by 2.42% in 2023 to 0.363 billion from 2022.
• Proceeds from the issuance of common stock upon the exercise of stock options and purchase of ESPP shares were $21.014 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025, and $28.800 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024.

Outbound Investments

• In February 2024, AppLovin agreed to invest $50.0 million in the Series C preferred stock financing of Humans, Inc., the developer of the Flip Shop social shopping app.
• The company announced the sale of its mobile gaming division to Tripledot Studios for $800 million, receiving half in cash and half in equity, making AppLovin a minority shareholder in Tripledot.

Capital Expenditures

• AppLovin's capital expenditures for the latest twelve months were $4.776 million.
• Capital expenditures averaged $2.863 million for the fiscal years ending December 2020 to 2024.
• Capital expenditures peaked in December 2024 at $4.776 million and increased in 2023 by 541.4% to $4.246 million.