AppLovin, a company specializing in analytics and monetization for mobile applications, has made a $17.5B offer to buy Unity Technologies, the makers of the Unity game engine. This move comes less than one month after Unity announced the merger/acquisition of IronSource, a company very similar to AppLovin in purpose and this new deal would result in the termination of the IronSource deal.
Details of the deal from the Wall Street Journal:
The deal would value Unity at $58.85 a share, AppLovin said. That price equates to $17.5 billion based on the number of shares outstanding, as reported by FactSet. AppLovin said the deal gives Unity an enterprise value of $20 billion.
Under AppLovin’s proposal, Unity shareholders would control 55% of the combined company and appoint a majority of the board but have only 49% of voting rights, according to the deal terms. The company would be led by Unity Chief Executive John Riccitiello, while AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi would be chief operating officer.
A spokesman from Unity confirmed that the company received AppLovin’s offer and said its board will thoroughly evaluate it. Mr. Riccitiello started Unity’s quarterly earnings call Tuesday by acknowledging the offer and saying the company wouldn’t make any further comments at this time.
The ball is entirely in the hands of Unity’s board of directors, who have an obligation to make the move that is in the best long term for shareholders. You can learn more about the AppLovin attempt to buy/merge with Unity in the video below.