AppLovin Corporation (APP) — Company Research

Last Updated: 9 May 2026

AppLovin Corporation is a Palo Alto-based, AI-powered advertising-software company built around its Axon Ads Manager auction engine and three supporting platforms — MAX (in-app bidding), Adjust (mobile measurement) and Wurl (connected-TV distribution). FY2025 revenue (year ended 31 December 2025) was $5,480.7m, up 70% year-on-year, on $4,815.6m of gross profit (a JSON-sourced gross margin of 87.86%) and $3,333.8m of net income, with $3,942.8m of free cash flow and $2,191.9m of stock repurchased over the year (all JSON). The shares closed the most recent session at $468.55, down 6.1% from the prior $498.87 close after a sharp intraday move (day high $495.00, day low $447.475 on volume of 7,746,770 versus a 10-day average of 4,874,080 — JSON), well off the 52-week high of $745.61 but still more than 46% above the 52-week low of $320.00. That puts market capitalisation at approximately $157.40 billion against an enterprise value of approximately $158.50 billion (JSON). The story this week is the Q1 2026 print released on 6 May 2026 (10-Q filing date per JSON sec_filings), which produced revenue of $1,842.4m, $1,439.9m of operating income and $1,205.6m of net income on EPS of $3.56 (JSON quarterly), with Morgan Stanley publicly framing the result as evidence that the e-commerce advertising ramp is running ahead of plan (recent_news, 8 May 2026, TheStreet).

tradingview-advanced-chart {{TV_SYMBOL}} = NASDAQ:APP {{TICKER}} = APP

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1. Company Snapshot

| Field | Value | |---|---| | Company | AppLovin Corporation | | Ticker | APP (NMS / Nasdaq) | | Sector / Industry | Communication Services / Advertising Agencies | | Country | United States | | Headquarters | 1100 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, California | | Website | https://www.applovin.com | | CEO | Mr. Adam Arash Foroughi | | Employees (full-time, JSON) | 876 | | Market capitalisation | ~$157.4 billion | | Enterprise value | ~$158.5 billion | | Shares outstanding | 305,732,000 | | Float | 241,433,359 | | Latest annual revenue (FY2025, ended 31 Dec 2025) | $5,480.7m | | Latest annual net income (FY2025) | $3,333.8m | | Cash & equivalents (31 Dec 2025) | $2,487.1m | | CIK | 0001751008 |

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "Our mission is to create meaningful connections between companies and their ideal customers. We provide end-to-end AI-powered advertising solutions for businesses to reach, monetize and grow their global audience." The platform comprises Axon Ads Manager (user acquisition), MAX (in-app bidding monetisation), Adjust (measurement and analytics SaaS) and Wurl (connected-TV distribution and ad monetisation). On 30 June 2025 AppLovin completed the divestiture of its Apps business and now "operates as a single operating and reportable segment".

tradingview-symbol-info {{TV_SYMBOL}} = NASDAQ:APP

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2. Bull Case vs Bear Case

Bull case

• Revenue is compounding at scale. JSON-sourced FY2025 revenue of $5,480.7m grew 70% from FY2024's $3,224.1m (which itself grew 75% from $1,841.8m in FY2023). Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "revenue increased by $2.3 billion, or 70%, from the prior year period primarily due to improved Axon Ads Manager performance, where the volume of installations increased 3% and net revenue per installation increased 72% compared to the prior year period" — i.e. growth has shifted from volume to monetisation efficiency.
• Software-style margin profile. JSON gross margin 87.86%, operating margin 75.75%, net margin 60.83%, ROE 156.17%, ROA 45.92%. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19), Adjusted EBITDA was $4,512.5m at an 82.3% Adjusted EBITDA margin, up from 74.8% in FY2024 and 67.1% in FY2023.
• Cash conversion is exceptional. $3,971.1m of operating cash flow on $3,333.8m of net income, with capex of just $28.3m, producing $3,942.8m of free cash flow (JSON). The business spent $2,191.9m on share buybacks in FY2025 (JSON) while still ending the year with $2,487.1m of cash.
• Q1 2026 already showed sequential acceleration. JSON quarterly: revenue $1,842.4m (vs $1,657.9m in Q4 2025 and $1,158.97m in Q1 2025 — about 59% higher than the prior-year quarter), operating income $1,439.9m, net income $1,205.6m, EPS $3.56 and operating/free cash flow of $1,291.4m. The 8 May 2026 Zacks coverage carried by Yahoo Finance described "85% EBITDA margins and a June platform launch fuel investor optimism".
• Apps divestiture has simplified the story. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): on 30 June 2025 AppLovin sold its Apps business to Tripledot for $400 million in cash plus equity consideration representing approximately 20% of Tripledot's fully-diluted equity at closing; per the FY2025 10-K (Item 8, filed 2026-02-19), "the Company received $715.6 million in total consideration, consisting of $430.6 million in cash and 596.9 million ordinary shares of Tripledot, valued at $285.0 million." The remaining business is the higher-margin advertising platform.
• Capital-return capacity is substantial. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "In 2025, we repurchased and retired 5.5 million shares of Class A common stock for $2.2 billion and our board of directors authorized an incremental increase to our stock repurchase program totaling $3.2 billion. As of December 31, 2025, $3.3 billion remained available for repurchases under the program." The same source notes a $1.0 billion unsecured revolving credit facility (maturing 2029) was fully available at year-end.

Bear case

• Concentration on a single advertising recommendation engine. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "We generate substantially all of our revenue from fees collected from advertisers spending on Axon Ads Manager, which are determined dynamically based on advertisers' campaign goals. Revenue from other services was not material." That is single-product concentration on a single AI model.
• Reliance on third-party platforms is explicit. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1A, filed 2026-02-19): among the principal risks summarised at the top of the section is "our reliance on third-party platforms" — Apple's App Store and Google Play Store policy changes drove the original ATT-era disruption and "any changes made to the policies of these third-party platforms can drive rapid change across the mobile app and advertising ecosystems".
• Valuation reflects very high expectations. JSON ratios: trailing P/E 48.06, P/S 28.72, P/B 73.74, EV/Revenue 28.92, EV/EBITDA proxy 38.17 and FCF yield 2.5%. There is no margin for execution slip-ups embedded in the multiple.
• The 52-week range is wide and the stock has recently retraced. JSON: 52-week high $745.61 versus 52-week low $320.00, with the latest close at $468.55 — the stock is roughly 37% below the 52-week high while still up ~46% from the low. JSON also flags a high beta of 2.366 (i.e. roughly 2.4× the market's volatility historically).
• Heavy net-debt and small equity base. JSON: total debt $3,544.7m and total equity $2,134.7m, giving debt-to-equity of 1.66. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19), AppLovin had "$3.6 billion of senior unsecured notes outstanding, issued in multiple series that mature between 2029 and 2054 and bear fixed annual interest rates ranging from 5.125% to 5.950%." Annual interest expense was $207.0m in FY2025 (JSON).
• Insider activity is selling, not buying. JSON insider_transactions: in March 2026 the CEO Adam Foroughi disposed of (or had value-bearing transactions on) ~100,000 shares at values implying ~$460/share, the CTO Vasily Shikin similarly transacted ~70,489 shares at ~$486–$497, and director Eduardo Vivas transacted 184,820 shares at ~$453–$459. These are flagged as transactions in the data feed (with non-zero $value), and there are no offsetting open-market purchases by insiders in the 6-month JSON window.
• Loss from discontinued operations remained material in 2025. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes" was $99.4m in 2025 (vs $9.7m in 2024 and $101.1m in 2023) — a reminder that the divested Apps business carried genuine loss-making baggage.

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3. What Does This Company Actually Do?

In plain English, AppLovin runs an AI-driven auction engine that decides, in microseconds, which mobile (and increasingly web and connected-TV) advertisement to show to which user, and at what price, in order to hit each advertiser's return-on-ad-spend target. The advertising customers range from tiny indie game studios to the largest internet platforms in the world; the supply side is mostly mobile-app publishers and CTV streamers who let AppLovin monetise their ad inventory.

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19), the platform consists of four named products:

• Axon Ads Manager — the user-acquisition engine, "powered by our Axon AI advertising recommendation engine," and per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "Revenue from Axon Ads Manager comprises substantially all of our revenue."
• MAX — the in-app real-time bidding solution that auctions a publisher's ad inventory across competing demand sources; per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "Revenue from MAX is generated based on a percentage of client spend."
• Adjust — the SaaS measurement, attribution and fraud-prevention platform for app marketers; per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "Revenue from Adjust is primarily generated from an annual software subscription fee."
• Wurl — the connected-TV distribution and monetisation platform, with sub-products AdPool (CTV ad demand) and Global FAST Pass (free ad-supported streaming TV channel distribution); per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "Revenue from Wurl is primarily generated from content companies, streamers, and advertisers, typically on a usage-based and/or CPM model."

AppLovin is reporting as a single operating and reportable segment after the Apps divestiture (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-19: "Following the sale of the Apps business, we operate as a single operating and reportable segment"). The geographic split of revenue is, however, disclosed.

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 8, filed 2026-02-19), FY2025 revenue disaggregated by user-location geography was:

• United States — $2,827,248k, ~52% of FY2025 revenue (up from ~54% in FY2024 by share, +64% in dollars year-on-year).
• Rest of the world — $2,653,469k, ~48% of FY2025 revenue (up +77% in dollars year-on-year).
• Total — $5,480,717k.

svg-revenue-mix-donut Revenue mix (FY2025, by user geography per FY2025 10-K Item 8): - United States: 52% - Rest of the world: 48% Total: 100%

By product line, per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "Revenue from Axon Ads Manager comprises substantially all of our revenue. Revenue from other services was not material." MAX, Adjust and Wurl together fall into the "not material" bucket disclosed in the MD&A, even though each is named as a strategic asset in Item 1.

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4. The Business Model

AppLovin earns money when an advertiser buys placements through Axon Ads Manager and the campaign hits the advertiser's return-on-ad-spend target. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "We generate revenue when our advertisers achieve their return on advertising spend targets with our advertising solutions, ensuring that their success directly fuels our growth." Pricing is dynamic rather than per-impression or per-install — per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "Advertisers are charged dynamically based on their campaign goals, rather than a simple fixed price per impression or per action (click or installation)."

Margins. Headline FY2025 metrics from JSON: gross margin 87.86%, operating margin 75.75%, net margin 60.83%. The margin uplift over the last three years has come almost entirely from operating leverage on a fixed cost base. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): as a percentage of revenue, cost of revenue fell from 19% in 2023 to 16% in 2024 to 12% in 2025, sales and marketing from 12% to 8% to 4%, R&D from 18% to 12% to 4%, and G&A from 8% to 5% to 4% — total costs and expenses fell from 58% of revenue in 2023 to 24% in 2025, while income from operations rose from 42% of revenue in 2023 to 76% in 2025.

Operating cost stack. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): FY2025 cost of revenue was $665.1m (+28% y/y on "an increase of $150.2 million in expenses associated with operating our network infrastructure"), sales and marketing $203.7m (-19% y/y, "due primarily to a decrease of $57.1 million in personnel-related expenses related to a decrease in stock-based compensation related payroll costs and a reduction in headcount"), research and development $226.5m (-40% y/y, "due primarily to a decrease of $151.1 million in personnel-related expenses related to a decrease in stock-based compensation related payroll costs"), and general and administrative $233.5m (+42% y/y, "due primarily to an increase of $31.6 million in professional services costs primarily associated with transaction support and an increase of $24.5 million in bad debt expense primarily related to new initiatives"). Stock-based compensation was $208.0m in 2025, down from $357.4m in 2024 and $342.6m in 2023 (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-19).

Moat. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "As more advertisers use our advertising solutions to market and monetize their content, we gain access to more data regarding users and user engagement, further strengthening our scaled distribution. As our distribution grows, we gain better insights for Axon AI, which then further enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the Axon Ads Manager." The moat is described as a self-reinforcing data + scale + AI loop, anchored on the Axon recommendation engine.

Tax. Provision for income taxes was $519.7m in 2025 versus $22.4m in 2024 (JSON). Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "In 2025, provision for income taxes increased by $497.3 million compared to 2024. The increase in tax provision was primarily driven by higher pre-tax book income, global minimum tax, a decrease in stock-based compensation benefits, and a decrease in research and development credits, partially offset by an increase in deduction benefits related to foreign-derived intangible income." The same section notes that "On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ("OBBBA") was enacted in the U.S." and "its impact on the consolidated financial statements was immaterial."

Subsidy / regulatory-credit dependency. None disclosed. AppLovin is not a beneficiary of production tax credits, regulatory credit sales (in the EV-OEM sense), or government-grant revenue. The MD&A references R&D credits and foreign-derived intangible income deductions only as part of the effective-tax-rate reconciliation (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-19).

Capital structure. JSON: total debt $3,544.7m, cash and equivalents $2,487.1m, net debt ~$1.06bn against $4,151.9m of operating income. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "we had $3.6 billion of senior unsecured notes outstanding, issued in multiple series that mature between 2029 and 2054 and bear fixed annual interest rates ranging from 5.125% to 5.950%." JSON-sourced annual interest expense of $207.0m fell 35% from FY2024's $317.2m (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "Interest expense decreased $78.7 million as a result of lower interest rates under our senior unsecured notes compared to the interest rates under our prior credit agreement." The JSON-sourced interest figure is used as primary; the 10-K narrative explains the year-on-year decline.

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5. Financial Health

The five-year P&L tells two distinct stories — a 2022 loss-making year on a then-unrestated basis, a sharp 2023 inflection, and two years of explosive growth as Axon Ads Manager scaled. JSON values are used for all line items; FY2025/2024/2023 figures are presented on a continuing-operations basis (consistent with the recast in the FY2025 10-K), while FY2022 reflects the as-originally-reported consolidated figures including the now-divested Apps business.

| FY (Dec) | Revenue | Gross profit | Op. income | Net income | EPS diluted | OCF | FCF | Buybacks | Total debt | Cash | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 2025 | $5,480.7m | $4,815.6m | $4,151.9m | $3,333.8m | $9.75 | $3,971.1m | $3,942.8m | -$2,191.9m | $3,544.7m | $2,487.1m | | 2024 | $3,224.1m | $2,703.4m | $1,911.0m | $1,579.8m | $4.53 | $2,099.0m | $2,073.5m | -$981.3m | $3,554.6m | $697.0m | | 2023 | $1,841.8m | $1,485.1m | $772.4m | $357.2m | $0.98 | $1,061.5m | $997.6m | -$1,153.6m | $3,177.4m | $502.2m | | 2022 | $2,817.1m | $1,561.0m | -$47.8m | -$192.7m | -$0.52 | $412.8m | $412.1m | -$338.9m | $3,280.2m | $1,080.5m | | 2021 | n/d | n/d | $150.0m | n/d | n/d | n/d | n/d | n/d | n/d | n/d |

(All figures JSON. FY2021 line items beyond operating income are not disclosed in the source data; FY2022 figures are pre-recast and include the Apps business that was later divested in 2025.)

JSON revenue_growth_yoy is +70% for FY2025 and +75% for FY2024. The FY2023 vs FY2022 -34.6% number in the JSON reflects the 2023 recast of continuing operations versus the 2022 as-reported total — the 10-K's MD&A only compares 2025/2024/2023 on the continuing-operations basis and does not present a 2023-vs-2022 comparison.

JSON shares-diluted has fallen from 371,568,011 (FY2022) to 362,589,246 (FY2023) to 347,807,555 (FY2024) to 341,970,000 (FY2025), reflecting cumulative buybacks net of equity issuance for stock-based compensation.

Quarterly trend (JSON, in $millions unless stated):

| Quarter | Revenue | Gross profit | GM % | Op. income | Net income | EPS diluted | OCF | FCF | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Q1 2026 (3-31-2026) | $1,842.4 | $1,638.8 | ~89.0% | $1,439.9 | $1,205.6 | $3.56 | $1,291.4 | $1,291.4 | | Q4 2025 (12-31-2025) | $1,657.9 | $1,474.4 | ~88.9% | $1,275.2 | $1,102.3 | $3.24 | $1,313.7 | $1,285.4 | | Q3 2025 (9-30-2025) | $1,405.0 | $1,230.2 | ~87.6% | $1,079.0 | $835.5 | $2.45 | $1,053.4 | $1,053.4 | | Q2 2025 (6-30-2025) | $1,258.8 | $1,103.7 | ~87.7% | $957.7 | $819.5 | $2.39 | $772.2 | $772.2 | | Q1 2025 (3-31-2025) | $1,159.0 | $1,007.3 | ~86.9% | $840.0 | $576.4 | $1.67 | $831.7 | $831.7 |

Gross margin percentages are computed from JSON gross_profit / revenue at the same quarter.

svg-revenue-gross-margin Quarterly revenue ($m) and gross margin (%): Q1 2025: $1,159.0 ~86.9% Q2 2025: $1,258.8 ~87.7% Q3 2025: $1,405.0 ~87.6% Q4 2025: $1,657.9 ~88.9% Q1 2026: $1,842.4 ~89.0%

Five-year free cash flow has expanded from $412.1m (FY2022) → $997.6m (FY2023) → $2,073.5m (FY2024) → $3,942.8m (FY2025) — a compounded near-quadrupling over three years (JSON). The cash-flow definition in the 10-K is slightly stricter than JSON: per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19), "Free Cash Flow" is defined as "net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment and principal payment of finance leases" and totalled $3,951.9m in 2025. The JSON-sourced $3,942.8m FCF figure (which excludes only purchases of property and equipment) is used as primary throughout this report.

Balance sheet (31 Dec 2025, JSON): total assets $7,259.6m; total liabilities $5,124.9m; total equity $2,134.7m; total debt $3,544.7m; cash and equivalents $2,487.1m; current ratio 3.32; debt-to-equity 1.66. Equity nearly doubled year-on-year (from $1,089.8m at end-FY2024) despite $2.19bn of buybacks, reflecting $3.33bn of net income retained.

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6. Valuation & Market Data

All data JSON-sourced; price as of 2026-05-09T18:16:10Z.

| Metric | Value | |---|---| | Current price | $468.55 | | Previous close | $498.87 | | Day open / high / low | $494.07 / $495.00 / $447.475 | | Volume / 10-day average | 7,746,770 / 4,874,080 | | 52-week high | $745.61 | | 52-week low | $320.00 | | Market capitalisation | $157.40bn | | Enterprise value | $158.50bn | | Shares outstanding | 305,732,000 | | Float | 241,433,359 | | Beta | 2.366 | | Trailing P/E (ratios block) | 48.06 | | Trailing P/E (yfinance) | 40.81 | | Forward P/E (yfinance) | 21.52 | | P/S (trailing) | 28.72 | | P/B | 73.74 | | EV / Revenue | 28.92 | | EV / EBITDA proxy | 38.17 | | FCF yield | 2.5% | | Gross margin | 87.86% | | Operating margin | 75.75% | | Net margin | 60.83% | | ROE | 156.17% | | ROA | 45.92% | | Debt-to-equity | 1.66 | | Current ratio | 3.32 | | Dividend yield | None disclosed | | Short interest, put/call | Not disclosed in this report's source data |

The EV/EBITDA "proxy" is per JSON _calc_notes: "enterprise_value / operating_income (D&A unavailable; conservative proxy; op_income source: edgar_xbrl_OperatingIncomeLoss (form=10-K, filed=2026-02-19, accn=0001751008-26-000010))." A separate non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA figure is disclosed in the 10-K — per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): Adjusted EBITDA was $4,512.5m in FY2025 — but JSON does not carry an EV/Adjusted-EBITDA ratio.

Short interest, days-to-cover and put/call ratio data are not disclosed in this report's source data.

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7. What Are They Building / What's Coming?

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19), AppLovin's stated growth strategy has five strands:

1. Existing-market expansion — "We continue to have an attractive market opportunity within the mobile app ecosystem, which we intend to address through the optimization of our advertising solutions."
2. Enhance and extend AI-based technologies — "As we increase our scale and reach, our customers benefit from compounding improvements to Axon AI, our advertising recommendation engine."
3. New verticals — Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "One of our long-term objectives is to provide critical tools to advertisers across multiple verticals, including, for example, web-based e-commerce and social media. We have made our advertising solutions available to web-based advertisers, and while we are early in this market expansion, our new customers have experienced positive results."
4. Other content industries / CTV via Wurl — "We continue to expand our CTV business through the addition of new content advertisers and supply channels as well as through the application of Axon AI to CTV."
5. Strategic transactions — "we will continue to consider and leverage strategic acquisitions, partnerships, and investment opportunities to accelerate our growth."

The single biggest strategic transaction of the last twelve months was the divestiture rather than an acquisition: per the FY2025 10-K (Item 8, filed 2026-02-19), on 30 June 2025 AppLovin sold its Apps Business to Tripledot for total consideration of $715.6m, comprising $430.6m in cash and 596.9m Tripledot ordinary shares valued at $285.0m, "represent[ing] approximately 22% of Tripledot's outstanding ordinary shares and 20% of its fully diluted equity capitalization as of the closing date." That equity stake is now an investment on the balance sheet, not an operating segment.

R&D scale. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 380 employees, or 42% of our total headcount, involved in research and development and related activities. Our research and development organization is based in Palo Alto, California with additional resources around the world." JSON-sourced FY2025 R&D spend was $226.5m, about 4% of revenue.

Infrastructure. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "we had non-cancelable purchase obligations of $702.8 million, primarily related to an agreement for third-party cloud computing services, of which $398.5 million is payable within twelve months." Lease obligations include "$140.3 million for server and network equipment leases" within total non-cancelable lease payments of $173.9m. AppLovin does not disclose owning data centres in its own name; it leases servers and consumes third-party cloud computing.

Pipeline/launches. Recent_news (Zacks via Yahoo Finance, 8 May 2026) notes "a June platform launch" being cited by management as a near-term milestone; the underlying Q1 2026 earnings release is filed as the 8-K on 6 May 2026 (per JSON sec_filings). Beyond that, no specific dated product launches, named partnerships or named patent filings are disclosed in the source data for this report.

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8. Competitive Landscape

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "We operate in a fragmented advertising ecosystem composed of divisions of large, well-established companies as well as privately-held companies. The large companies in our advertising and mobile app ecosystems may play multiple different roles given the breadth of their businesses... Such advertising companies vary in size and include Meta, Google, Amazon, and Unity Software, as well as various private companies, several of which are also our partners and clients."

The four publicly-named direct competitors in the 10-K are:

| Competitor | Relationship per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19) | Notes from this report's source data | |---|---|---| | Meta Platforms (META) | Named as one of the "large companies" AppLovin competes with in advertising | One of "the largest advertising platforms in the world" (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-19) — also a client | | Alphabet / Google (GOOG/GOOGL) | Named as a competitor; also a third-party platform AppLovin depends on (Google Play Store, search) | Also named as an example client — per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "Advertising clients include a wide variety of advertisers, from indie developer studios to some of the largest global internet platforms, such as Meta and Google." | | Amazon (AMZN) | Named as a competitor | Diversified ad-tech footprint not described in this report's source data | | Unity Software (U) | Named as a competitor | Mobile-game-engine and ad-monetisation peer | | The Trade Desk (TTD) | Not named in the FY2025 10-K | Discussed contextually in recent_news 8 May 2026 (24/7 Wall St., Trefis) — see Section 11 |

Named market-share percentages for AppLovin and these competitors are not disclosed in the FY2025 10-K and not disclosed in this report's source data, so a competitor-share chart is not produced in this article.

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19), the "principal competitive factors" management identifies are: ability to enhance and improve technologies and offerings, knowledge and experience in the advertising ecosystem, relationships with third parties, ability to reach and target a large number of users, ability to identify and execute on strategic transactions, pricing and perceived value, brand and reputation, and ability to expand into new offerings and geographies. Management states: "We believe we compete favorably with respect to these factors."

Recent_news (24/7 Wall St., 8 May 2026) frames this Q1 2026 earnings season as a divergence trade in ad-tech — The Trade Desk fell roughly 13% on a Q1 miss and softer Q2 outlook the same week AppLovin's stock initially held its post-earnings gains.

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9. Leadership and Ownership

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "AppLovin is critical to the success of advertisers and publishers seeking to solve marketing and monetization challenges." The CEO listed in the JSON company block is Mr. Adam Arash Foroughi (the same individual is named as "FOROUGHI ARASH ADAM, Chief Executive Officer" in JSON insider_transactions). He is also the company's co-founder per Item 1 ("Since our founding in 2011...Our founders, who were mobile app developers themselves..."). Age is not disclosed in the source data and is therefore not asserted in this report.

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-19): "As of December 31, 2025, we had a total of 898 employees, comprised of 876 full-time and 22 part-time/intern employees, located in 15 countries... approximately 60% of our global employees were located outside of the U.S. and 40% in the U.S. Approximately 47% of our U.S. employees identify as being from one or more diverse groups, including Asian, Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Two or More Races and approximately 36% of our U.S. employees identify as female. None of our employees are represented by a labor union." JSON's "employees" field of 876 reflects the full-time count.

Top institutional holders (as of 2025-12-31, JSON):

| Holder | Shares | % held | Value (USD) | |---|---|---|---| | Vanguard Group Inc | 25,120,575 | 8.22% | $11,770,245,109 | | BlackRock Inc. | 24,171,697 | 7.91% | $11,325,648,334 | | IEQ Capital, LLC | 15,685,398 | 5.13% | $7,349,393,041 | | FMR, LLC (Fidelity) | 13,091,028 | 4.28% | $6,133,801,009 | | State Street Corporation | 11,904,843 | 3.89% | $5,578,014,042 | | Geode Capital Management, LLC | 7,167,003 | 2.34% | $3,358,099,168 | | JPMorgan Chase & Co | 7,053,011 | 2.31% | $3,304,688,217 | | Baillie Gifford & Co | 6,166,349 | 2.02% | $2,889,242,748 | | T. Rowe Price Associates Inc | 6,089,735 | 1.99% | $2,853,345,259 | | Morgan Stanley | 5,561,646 | 1.82% | $2,605,909,165 |

The top 10 institutions hold ~39.9% of shares outstanding per JSON (sum of the percentages above), with index/quasi-index complexes (Vanguard + BlackRock + State Street + Geode) accounting for ~22.4% of that.

Insider transactions (last six months, JSON insider_transactions): the JSON feed shows the share count, dollar-value, role and date for each transaction but does not populate a buy/sell label for these entries (the transaction field is empty). Implied per-share values are calculated from value ÷ shares.

| Date | Insider | Position | Shares | Value (USD) | Implied $/share | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 2026-04-15 | Webb Maynard George Jr | Director | 37 | $0 | n/a (no $ value disclosed) | | 2026-04-15 | Messing Barbara | Director | 37 | $0 | n/a (no $ value disclosed) | | 2026-03-16 | Vivas Eduardo | Director | 163,910 | $74,331,211 | ~$453.49 | | 2026-03-13 | Dorosh Dmitriy | Officer | 3,109 | $1,409,678 | ~$453.42 | | 2026-03-13 | Vivas Eduardo | Director | 20,910 | $9,590,790 | ~$458.67 | | 2026-03-12 | Foroughi Arash Adam | Chief Executive Officer | 40,704 | $18,717,610 | ~$459.85 | | 2026-03-12 | Foroughi Arash Adam | Chief Executive Officer | 59,296 | $27,495,862 | ~$463.71 | | 2026-03-11 | Foroughi Arash Adam | Chief Executive Officer | 20,000 | $0 | n/a (no $ value disclosed) | | 2026-03-10 | Shikin Vasily | Chief Technology Officer | 67,828 | $32,947,776 | ~$485.76 | | 2026-03-10 | Shikin Vasily | Chief Technology Officer | 2,661 | $1,323,616 | ~$497.41 |

The implied per-share values for the dollar-bearing transactions sit in the $453–$497 range, consistent with the share price during the second week of March 2026. Whether the March 2026 dispositions were executed under pre-planned 10b5-1 trading plans or as discretionary sales is not disclosed in this report's source data — the underlying Form 4 filings on EDGAR would contain that flag; JSON does not.

Share-class structure. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 8, filed 2026-02-19): at year-end 2025 the company had 307,955k Class A and 30,358k Class B shares outstanding (no Class C issued); KKR Denali Holdings L.P. had previously held the Class B stake, "converted its remaining shares of the Company's Class B common stock into Class A common stock and subsequently sold all such shares, and ceased to be a related party as of December 31, 2024." A Voting Agreement is referenced as a controlled-company governance mechanism (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 1A, filed 2026-02-19: principal risks include "the multi-class structure of our common stock and the Voting Agreement among the Voting Agreement Parties" and "our status as a 'controlled company' within the meaning of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements").

tradingview-technical-analysis-gauge {{TV_SYMBOL}} = NASDAQ:APP

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10. Risks and Challenges

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1A, filed 2026-02-19), AppLovin's own Risk Factor Summary lists the following principal risk categories (paraphrased and grouped, with quoted bullets where used):

Business, operational and industry

• "the fluctuation in our results of operations"
• "security breaches, improper access to or disclosure of data, or other cyber incidents"
• "our reliance on third-party platforms" — i.e. Apple's App Store and Google Play Store policy changes; per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "Both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store have made various changes to their policies in recent years"
• "our reliance on certain key employees and our ability to attract, retain, and motivate key personnel"
• "our ability to attract new clients, retain existing clients, and maintain or increase spend by clients"
• "competition in our industry and our ability to adapt to technological change"
• "concentration of our revenue sources" — combined with the MD&A acknowledgement that Axon Ads Manager is "substantially all of our revenue"
• "the impact of macroeconomic conditions and the geopolitical climate"
• "risks related to our international operations" — JSON-disclosed FY2025 Rest-of-world revenue of $2,653.5m is roughly 48% of the total
• "risks related to our strategic transactions, including integration and managing growth"

Legal and regulatory

• "changes in laws and regulations concerning privacy, information security, data protection, consumer protection, AI, advertising, tracking, targeting, and protection of minors"
• "the development and use of AI in our offerings and business"
• "compliance with governmental anti-bribery, export and import controls, economic sanctions, and other international trade laws and regulations"
• "changes in tax laws or tax rulings or exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities"
• "liability for content or advertising that is served through our advertising solutions"

Intellectual property

• "our ability to protect or enforce our proprietary and intellectual property rights or the costs involved in such enforcement"
• "our involvement in intellectual property disputes"
• "our use of and compliance with open source software"

Financial and accounting

• "our indebtedness and obligations thereunder" — the same MD&A confirms $3.6bn of senior unsecured notes
• "our ability to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our significant debt service obligations"
• "the possibility that we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings if our goodwill becomes impaired" — per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19), the FY2025 cash-flow reconciliation already included "$188.9 million of goodwill impairment" and "$50.0 million of impairment of non-marketable equity securities"

Ownership and governance

• "the multi-class structure of our common stock and the Voting Agreement among the Voting Agreement Parties"
• "our status as a 'controlled company' within the meaning of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements"
• "volatility of the market price of our Class A common stock" — JSON beta of 2.366 confirms the historical sensitivity
• "the possibility that we may not realize the anticipated long-term stockholder value of our share repurchase programs"

Capital allocation / valuation risk. JSON-sourced FY2025 capital deployment was $2.19bn into buybacks at average prices the company has not separately broken out per share. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19): "we repurchased and retired 5.5 million shares of Class A common stock for $2.2 billion" — implying an average buyback price near $400/share for FY2025. With the stock most recently trading at $468.55 (JSON), continued buybacks at higher prices are part of the explicit risk disclosure ("we may not realize the anticipated long-term stockholder value of our share repurchase programs").

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11. Recent Developments

The last 48 hours have been dominated by reaction to the Q1 2026 earnings print released on 6 May 2026 (per JSON sec_filings: 10-Q and 8-K both filed 2026-05-06). The most recent items in JSON recent_news first.

• 9 May 2026 — Simply Wall St. (via Yahoo Finance): "AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) First-Quarter Results Just Came Out: Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting For This Year." Summary: "AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) defied analyst predictions to release its quarterly results, which were ahead of..." Source URL: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/applovin-corporation-nasdaq-app-first-144415375.html
• 8 May 2026 — TheStreet: "Morgan Stanley spills beans on what's next for AppLovin stock." Per recent_news summary: "AppLovin just delivered another strong quarter. Its e-commerce advertising business is accelerating faster than expected. And Morgan Stanley walked away from the results more convinced than before. The bank's message to investors is direct: AppLovin is still in the early days of what could be a..." Source URL: https://www.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/morgan-stanley-spills-beans-on-whats-next-for-applovin-stock
• 8 May 2026 — Zacks (via Yahoo Finance): "Is AppLovin Stock a Buy After Its Explosive Q1 2026 Earnings?" Summary: "APP jumps after Q1 2026 earnings as AI ad growth, 85% EBITDA margins and a June platform launch fuel investor optimism." Source URL: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/applovin-stock-buy-explosive-q1-180400193.html
• 8 May 2026 — Simply Wall St. (via Yahoo Finance): "High Insider Ownership Boosts These Growth Stocks In May 2026" — context piece including AppLovin in a list of high-insider-ownership growth names. Source URL: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/high-insider-ownership-boosts-growth-173602371.html
• 8 May 2026 — 24/7 Wall St.: "Trade Desk Tumbles 13%, AppLovin Holds Gains as Ad-Tech Q1 Earnings Split Wall Street." Per summary, The Trade Desk fell ~13% on Q1 2026 earnings miss + softer Q2 outlook the same week AppLovin's Q1 was received favourably. Source URL: https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/05/08/trade-desk-tumbles-13-applovin-holds-gains-as-ad-tech-q1-earnings-split-wall-street/
• 8 May 2026 — Trefis: "At $20 Is TTD Stock A Value Play Or A Falling Knife?" — companion piece on The Trade Desk with the same ad-tech context. Source URL: https://www.trefis.com/articles/598812/at-20-is-ttd-stock-a-value-play-or-a-falling-knife/2026-05-08
• 8 May 2026 — Investor's Business Daily: "Dow Jones Futures: Trump Says U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Holds; Akamai, Cloudflare, IREN Are Big Earnings Movers" — broad market context piece. Source URL: https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-trump-us-iran-ceasefire-akamai-cloudflare-iren-earnings/?src=A00220&yptr=yahoo
• 8 May 2026 — Simply Wall St. (via Yahoo Finance): "May 2026's Top Growth Companies With Insider Influence." Source URL: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/may-2026s-top-growth-companies-113603150.html
• 7 May 2026 — Motley Fool: "Why AppLovin Stock Trounced the Market Today." Per summary: "It easily surmounted analyst estimates for first-quarter revenue and profitability." Source URL: https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/05/07/why-applovin-stock-trounced-the-market-today/
• 7 May 2026 — Investor's Business Daily: "AppLovin Stock Rises As AI Platform's Earnings Report Triggers Volatile Trading." Per summary: "AppLovin stock slipped Thursday after the advertising software company reported first-quarter results that beat expectations." Source URL: https://www.investors.com/news/technology/applovin-stock-q1-earnings-2026-app/?src=A00220&yptr=yahoo

Filings the same week (JSON sec_filings):

• 10-Q filed 2026-05-06: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1751008/000175100826000044/app-20260331.htm
• 8-K filed 2026-05-06: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1751008/000175100826000042/app-20260506.htm
• DEF 14A filed 2026-04-21: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1751008/000175100826000028/app-20260420.htm
• 8-K filed 2026-04-07: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1751008/000175100826000014/app-20260402.htm
• 10-K filed 2026-02-19: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1751008/000175100826000010/app-20251231.htm

CEO/executive social media activity is not present in this report's source data, so no X-post-based statements are cited.

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12. Key Dates Coming Up

• Next earnings announcement: 5 August 2026 (JSON calendar.next_earnings_date).
• Ex-dividend date: none — AppLovin pays no dividend (JSON calendar.ex_dividend_date is null and JSON dividends_paid is null in every disclosed fiscal year).
• Annual meeting / proxy: the most recent DEF 14A was filed 2026-04-21 (JSON sec_filings); date of the meeting itself is not separately disclosed in this report's source data.
• Product launch: "a June platform launch" is referenced by Zacks (recent_news, 8 May 2026, https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/applovin-stock-buy-explosive-q1-180400193.html). A specific launch date and product name are not disclosed in this report's source data.
• Debt maturities: per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-19), AppLovin's senior unsecured notes mature between 2029 and 2054; the unsecured revolving credit facility matures 5 December 2029.

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Disclaimer

This report is research, not investment advice. It is built from primary sources — AppLovin's SEC filings (10-K filed 2026-02-19; 10-Q and 8-K filed 2026-05-06; DEF 14A filed 2026-04-21) and the JSON snapshot of price, ratios, holders and recent news prepared on 2026-05-09. Where a section is not disclosed in this report's source data, that has been stated explicitly rather than filled with material from elsewhere. No analyst opinions, price targets, or third-party ratings are expressed. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decision.