AppLovin is tired of this shit.
Last week, word got out that the company is bringing on some serious legal firepower to push back against short-seller reports—some of which, sure, raise valid points, but many of which are speculative and, in some cases, weird.
Then over the last couple of days, CEO Adam Foroughi published two blog posts aimed at demystifying AppLovin’s technology and boosting transparency and confidence in the market. In one of them, the company used Grok to show there’s “nothing unique to the AppLovin pixel.”
Savvy play because X’s owner, Elon Musk, retweeted it. Considering Musk’s well-documented hatred of short sellers, it made sense.
Now, today, The WSJ reports AppLovin is in early talks to potentially buy TikTok, even exploring a bid with casino billionaire Steve Wynn. Here’s how AppLovin is described in The WSJ article:
“AppLovin, which some analysts have said could be the next TikTok because of its powerful artificial intelligence that can collect data on app users and use it to tailor ads, has a market cap of $100 billion.”
Wow! It’s probably not a real bid, but, hey, we love it nonetheless. Put that $100 billion market cap to work.
Why This Matters:
AppLovin has been trying to find the right way to counter short-seller pressure for months. The current playbook? Lift the curtain. The company is leaning into transparency, publishing blog posts that break down how its tech actually works—a strategy it also used back in February after a wave of short attacks.
Speaking of, Marketecture’s Ari Paparo has a great read on AppLovin this week (everyone’s favorite stock, indeed!), which you can see here.
Experts React:
Some of our favorite takes on the AppLovin craziness over the last few days:
I'd take this more seriously than AppLovin's "bid".
— Erez(@elevin11) April 2, 2025
Our Take:
As we’ve said before… leave AppLovin alone! 
