AppLovin Corporation

AppLovin Corporation provides advertising technology that helps businesses find customers and app publishers earn advertising revenue. Its Axon recommendation system is central to matching ads with users. Revenue is presented after publisher inventory costs because AppLovin acts as an agent in those arrangements. The company trades on Nasdaq under APP and reports on a December 31 year-end.

Results through September 2026

Adjusted EBITDA starts from continuing net income and removes interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based pay and specified other items. Third-quarter adjustments include $84.2 million of stock-based compensation and $15.5 million of transaction-related expense, while removing $84.5 million of other income and a separate non-operating currency gain.

GAAP operating income was $1.709 billion, up from $1.079 billion a year earlier. Net income included a $46.9 million unrealized gain on private investments. Research and development expense rose to $101.8 million from $43.9 million; most of that increase came from stock-based compensation, which rose to $68.1 million from $15.6 million within that expense line.

Earlier promises and the next quarter

After second-quarter revenue landed just below the midpoint of management's forecast and adjusted EBITDA fell below its range, the August outlook set third-quarter revenue at $2.055 billion to $2.085 billion and adjusted EBITDA at $1.710 billion to $1.740 billion. Actual results exceeded both upper limits by about $100 million.

The original August call also expected third-quarter cash conversion to improve and full-year free cash flow to equal roughly 75% of adjusted EBITDA. Conversion rose from about 53.5% in the second quarter to 77.0% in the third; the first-nine-month ratio was about 71.2%.

The initial fourth-quarter outlook is $2.365 billion to $2.395 billion of revenue, $1.995 billion to $2.025 billion of adjusted EBITDA and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 84% to 85%. The next checkpoints are delivery against those ranges and full-year cash conversion.

AppLovin attributed third-quarter revenue growth mainly to improved AppLovin Ads performance: net revenue per installation rose 55%, while installations increased 2%. Further model improvements and expansion into ecommerce remain important to future growth; the report says their timing and effectiveness can vary.

Cash, debt and capital returns

First-nine-month operating cash flow was $3.589 billion and free cash flow was $3.569 billion after $9.3 million of equipment purchases and $11.5 million of finance-lease principal payments. Cash taxes were $926.2 million, compared with $167.3 million a year earlier, and growth in accounts receivable absorbed $571.0 million.

Cash paid for share repurchases totaled $2.811 billion, with another $55.8 million paid for employee equity-award withholding taxes. The September cash balance was $3.174 billion, versus $2.487 billion at December 31. There were no debt proceeds or principal repayments in the nine-month cash-flow statement.

Senior notes had $3.6 billion of principal and a $3.516 billion carrying amount at September 30. The $1 billion revolving credit commitment was undrawn. In October, the board added $3.2 billion of repurchase authority, leaving $3.6 billion available after the increase; the earlier September 30 balance was $394.3 million.

Changes in the company

AppLovin completed the sale of its Apps business to Tripledot on June 30, 2025. The $715.6 million consideration comprised $430.6 million of cash and $285 million of Tripledot shares. AppLovin's resulting investment is accounted for using the equity method; its September 2026 carrying value was $298.3 million. Current revenue and the quarterly comparisons above reflect the remaining advertising business.

On October 29, holders of approximately 67% of voting power approved a planned conversion from Delaware to Nevada by written consent. The filing schedules conversion no earlier than twenty calendar days after mailing the shareholder information statement.

The current report describes disputed securities and derivative lawsuits. Those civil cases are separate from the voluntary SEC inquiry that the chief financial officer said in August had concluded without recommended action.