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AppLovin Announces Record Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results and the Transition of the President and CFO

APP

AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ: APP) (“AppLovin”), a leading marketing platform, today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 and posted a letter to shareholders on its Investor Relations website located at www.investors.applovin.com.

AppLovin’s robust third quarter exceeded the high end of revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and margin guidance. Outperformance was driven primarily by the continued performance of AXON 2.0, the AI-based advertising engine behind the company’s AppDiscovery platform.

Financial highlights for the third quarter of 2023 include:

  • Total revenue grew 21% year-over-year to $864 million, and net income improved to $109 million at a net margin of 13%
  • Adjusted EBITDA grew 63% year-over-year to $419 million at an improved Adjusted EBITDA margin of 49%
  • Net cash from operating activities was $199 million and Free Cash Flow was $194 million
  • Software Platform: Revenue was $504 million, an increase of 65% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $364 million, growing 91% year-over-year, at an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 72%
  • Apps: Revenue was $360 million, a decrease of 11% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $55 million, a decrease of 18% year-over-year, at an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 15%
  • Year-to-date through the end of the third quarter, the company repurchased $1.154 billion of Class A common stock at a weighted average price under $25 per share

Separately, AppLovin announced today that Herald Chen, President and Chief Financial Officer, will transition from a full-time role with the company to pursue new career opportunities at the end of 2023. He will remain on the AppLovin Board of Directors and serve as Advisor to the CEO, where he will continue to work with the management team on key strategic topics and financial matters.

Matt Stumpf, current Vice President of Finance and FP&A, has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer, and Dmitriy Dorosh, Vice President Controller, has been designated Principal Accounting Officer, both effective January 1, 2024. Stumpf joined AppLovin in early 2020 and has been an integral leader across all facets of finance and IR. Dorosh has been a key executive on the AppLovin accounting team since 2019, having taken over the accounting leadership role in August 2022.

“We are thrilled to announce our best quarter ever leading to very strong financial results,” said Adam Foroughi, CEO and Co-Founder of AppLovin. “We would also like to thank Herald for his dedication and leadership as he helped us transition to a public company and build processes to help us deliver significant growth in our core business. The management team and Board look forward to working with him in his new role. We are pleased to have Matt assume the role of CFO and we are confident in his future success.”

“I am deeply honored to have been a part of the remarkable AppLovin team since joining the Board in 2018 and in the President and CFO role since 2019. During this time, we’ve dramatically enhanced our technology and market position and driven extraordinary growth in revenue, net income and Adjusted EBITDA as reflected in this quarter’s record performance,” said Chen. “Through my continuing role on the Board, and as an Advisor to the CEO, I look forward to working with Adam, Matt, and the rest of the AppLovin team on the next phase of growth.”

Webcast and Conference Calls

AppLovin will host a webinar today at 2:00 PM PT / 5:00 PM ET, during which management will discuss the Company’s third quarter 2023 results and provide commentary on its business performance. A question-and-answer session will follow the prepared remarks.

The webinar may be accessed on the Company’s investor relations website or via webinar registration. A replay of the webinar will also be available under the Events & Presentations section of our Investor Relations website.

About AppLovin

AppLovin makes technologies that help businesses of every size connect to their ideal customers. The company provides end-to-end software and AI solutions for businesses to reach, monetize and grow their global audiences. For more information about AppLovin, visit: www.applovin.com.

Source: AppLovin Corp.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding expected changes in the Company’s executive leadership team. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2023 filed with the SEC on the day of this press release. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Metrics

To supplement our financial information presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), this press release includes certain financial measures that are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, including Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, and Free Cash Flow. A reconciliation of each such non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure can be found below.

We define Adjusted EBITDA for a particular period as net income (loss) before interest expense and loss on settlement of debt, interest income and other, net (excluding certain recurring items), provision for (benefit from) income taxes, amortization, depreciation and write-offs and as further adjusted for non-operating foreign exchange (gains) losses, stock-based compensation expense, acquisition-related expense and transaction bonuses, publisher bonuses, MoPub acquisition transition services, restructuring costs, impairment and loss in connection with sale of long-lived assets, loss (gain) on extinguishments of acquisition-related contingent consideration, lease modification and abandonment of leasehold improvements, and change in the fair value of contingent consideration. We define Adjusted EBITDA margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue for the same period.

We define Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less purchases of property and equipment and principal payments on finance leases. We subtract both purchases of property and equipment and payment of finance leases in our calculation of Free Cash Flow because we believe these items represent our ongoing requirements for property and equipment to support our business, regardless of whether we utilize a finance lease to obtain such property or equipment.

We believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures provides useful information to investors regarding our results of operations and operating performance, as they are similar to measures reported by our public competitors and are regularly used by securities analysts, institutional investors, and other interested parties in analyzing operating performance and prospects.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are key measures we use to assess our financial performance and are also used for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are helpful to investors, analysts, and other interested parties because they can assist in providing a more consistent and comparable overview of our operations across our historical financial periods. We use Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin in conjunction with GAAP measures as part of our overall assessment of our performance, including the preparation of our annual operating budget and quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies, and to communicate with our board of directors concerning our financial performance. We use Free Cash Flow in addition to GAAP measures to help manage our business and prepare budgets and annual planning, and we believe Free Cash Flow provides useful supplemental information to help investors understand underlying trends in our business and our liquidity.

These measures have certain limitations in that they do not include the impact of certain expenses that are reflected in our consolidated statement of operations that are necessary to run our business. Our definitions may differ from the definitions used by other companies and therefore comparability may be limited. In addition, other companies may not publish these or similar metrics. Thus, our non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, not as substitutes for, or in isolation from, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

AppLovin Corporation

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(in thousands, except for share and per share data)

(unaudited)

September 30,

December 31,

2023

2022

Assets

Current assets:

Cash and cash equivalents

$

332,491

$

1,080,484

Accounts receivable, net

849,140

702,814

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

119,161

155,785

Total current assets

1,300,792

1,939,083

Property and equipment, net

102,156

78,543

Operating lease right-of-use assets

52,998

60,379

Goodwill

1,813,567

1,823,755

Intangible assets, net

1,386,591

1,677,660

Other assets

349,124

268,426

Total assets

$

5,005,228

$

5,847,846

Liabilities and stockholders’ equity

Current liabilities:

Accounts payable

$

281,103

$

273,196

Accrued and other current liabilities

181,679

147,801

Licensed asset obligation

13,389

15,254

Short-term debt

215,000

33,310

Deferred revenue

77,899

64,018

Operating lease liabilities

13,800

14,334

Deferred acquisition costs, current

22,604

31,045

Total current liabilities

805,474

578,958

Long-term debt

2,912,302

3,178,412

Operating lease liabilities, non-current

46,887

54,153

Licensed asset obligation, non-current

11,794

26,970

Other non-current liabilities

132,981

106,676

Total liabilities

3,909,438

3,945,169

Stockholders’ equity:

Preferred stock, $0.00003 par value—100,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022

Class A and Class B Common Stock, $0.00003 par value—1,700,000,000 (Class A 1,500,000,000 and Class B 200,000,000) shares authorized, 335,783,928 (Class A 264,621,306 and Class B 71,162,622) and 373,873,683 (Class A 302,711,061 and Class B 71,162,622) shares issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively

11

11

Additional paid-in capital

2,174,658

3,155,748

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

(93,657

)

(83,382

)

Accumulated deficit

(985,222

)

(1,169,700

)

Total stockholders’ equity

1,095,790

1,902,677

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

$

5,005,228

$

5,847,846

AppLovin Corporation

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

(in thousands, except per share data)

(unaudited)

Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended

September 30,

September 30,

2023

2022

2023

2022

Revenue

$

864,256

$

713,099

$

2,329,826

$

2,114,751

Costs and expenses:

Cost of revenue

265,049

300,988

785,584

886,697

Sales and marketing

212,352

196,785

607,755

719,014

Research and development

159,288

122,059

441,563

389,417

General and administrative

41,249

44,000

116,231

144,988

Total costs and expenses

677,938

663,832

1,951,133

2,140,116

Income (loss) from operations

186,318

49,267

378,693

(25,365

)

Other income (expense):

Interest expense and loss on settlement of debt

(78,583

)

(48,627

)

(204,081

)

(117,141

)

Interest income and other, net

1,490

969

27,062

3,501

Total other expense, net

(77,093

)

(47,658

)

(177,019

)

(113,640

)

Income (loss) before income taxes

109,225

1,609

201,674

(139,005

)

Provision for (benefit from) income taxes

586

(22,053

)

17,196

(25,570

)

Net income (loss)

108,639

23,662

184,478

(113,435

)

Less: Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest

(109

)

(201

)

Net income (loss) attributable to AppLovin

$

108,639

$

23,771

$

184,478

$

(113,234

)

Less: Net income attributable to participating securities

804

122

963

Net income (loss) attributable to AppLovin common stockholders:

Basic

$

107,835

$

23,649

$

183,515

$

(113,234

)

Diluted

$

107,869

$

23,653

$

183,545

$

(113,234

)

Net income (loss) per share attributable to AppLovin common stockholders:

Basic

$

0.32

$

0.06

$

0.51

$

(0.30

)

Diluted

$

0.30

$

0.06

$

0.50

$

(0.30

)

Weighted average common shares used to compute net income (loss) per share attributable to AppLovin common stockholders:

Basic

341,435,759

369,389,170

357,009,609

371,736,763

Diluted

356,906,222

378,462,207

368,259,513

371,736,763

AppLovin Corporation

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(in thousands)

(unaudited)

Nine Months Ended September 30,

2023

2022

Operating Activities

Net income (loss)

$

184,478

$

(113,435

)

Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to operating activities:

Amortization, depreciation and write-offs

369,897

445,507

Stock-based compensation

275,058

143,943

Change in operating right-of-use asset

11,732

13,725

Amortization of debt issuance costs and discount

9,663

9,685

Loss on settlement of debt

4,337

Other

(3,906

)

2,133

Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of effect of acquisitions:

Accounts receivable

(146,796

)

(139,350

)

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

28,695

(70,242

)

Other assets

(58,179

)

(4,616

)

Accounts payable

7,955

(7,881

)

Operating lease liabilities

(12,253

)

(15,345

)

Accrued and other liabilities

32,416

(2,645

)

Deferred revenue

14,425

(11,905

)

Net cash provided by operating activities

717,522

249,574

Investing Activities

Acquisitions, net of cash acquired

(51,816

)

(1,335,698

)

Purchase of non-marketable equity securities

(16,934

)

(56,546

)

Capitalized software development costs

(6,523

)

(4,546

)

Purchase of property and equipment

(4,002

)

(621

)

Proceeds from sale of assets

8,250

3,657

Net cash used in investing activities

(71,025

)

(1,393,754

)

Financing Activities

Repurchases of stock

(1,153,593

)

(338,880

)

Principal repayments of debt

(490,494

)

(17,482

)

Payment of withholding taxes related to net share settlement

(115,846

)

Payments of licensed asset obligation

(15,254

)

(17,374

)

Principal payments on finance leases

(16,191

)

(18,099

)

Payments of deferred acquisition costs

(11,503

)

(104,998

)

Payment of debt issuance cost

(4,545

)

Proceeds from issuance of debt

210,281

Proceeds from revolving credit facility

185,000

Proceeds from exercise of stock options

17,807

21,733

Proceeds from the issuance of common stock under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan

2,071

3,663

Net cash used in financing activities

(1,392,267

)

(471,437

)

Effect of foreign exchange rate on cash and cash equivalents

(2,223

)

(11,379

)

Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents

(747,993

)

(1,626,996

)

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash equivalents at beginning of the period

1,080,484

2,570,504

Cash and cash equivalents at end of the period

$

332,491

$

943,508

AppLovin Corporation

Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided By (Used In) Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow

(in thousands)

The following table provides a reconciliation of net cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow for the past eight quarters:

4Q21

1Q22

2Q22

3Q22

4Q22

1Q23

2Q23

3Q23

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

85,015

(31,719

)

106,811

174,482

163,199

288,662

229,794

199,066

Less:

Purchase of property and equipment

(428

)

(285

)

(115

)

(221

)

(41

)

(70

)

(3,749

)

(183

)

Principal payments on finance leases

(5,581

)

(6,176

)

(6,150

)

(5,773

)

(5,984

)

(5,447

)

(5,468

)

(5,276

)

Free Cash Flow

$

79,006

$

(38,180

)

$

100,546

$

168,488

$

157,174

$

283,145

$

220,577

$

193,607

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

$

(8,678

)

$

(1,059,743

)

$

(292,001

)

$

(42,010

)

$

22,286

$

(12,975

)

$

(42,217

)

$

(15,833

)

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities

$

1,446,939

$

(65,424

)

$

(269,622

)

$

(136,391

)

$

(55,411

)

$

(111,415

)

$

(556,698

)

$

(724,154

)

AppLovin Corporation

Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) to Adjusted EBITDA

(in thousands)

The following table provides our Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin and a reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented:

3Q22

4Q22

1Q23

2Q23

3Q23

Revenue

$

713,099

$

702,307

$

715,405

$

750,165

$

864,256

Net income (loss)

$

23,662

$

(79,512

)

$

(4,518

)

$

80,357

$

108,639

Net Margin

3

%

(11

)%

(1

)%

11

%

13

%

Interest expense and loss on settlement of debt

48,627

54,722

74,511

50,987

78,583

Interest income and other, net

(3,604

)

(10,174

)

(9,771

)

(15,817

)

(771

)

Provision for (benefit from) income taxes

(22,053

)

13,340

1,165

15,445

586

Amortization, depreciation and write-offs

136,094

129,313

128,208

119,892

121,797

Impairment and loss in connection with sale of long-lived assets

27,736

100,156

Non-operating foreign exchange loss (gain)

(406

)

1,519

(672

)

126

(613

)

Stock-based compensation

42,147

47,669

82,966

81,253

110,839

Acquisition-related expense and transaction bonus

4,317

227

517

247

231

Restructuring costs

1,117

2,340

1,292

1,024

Total adjustments

233,975

339,112

278,216

253,157

310,652

Adjusted EBITDA

$

257,637

$

259,600

$

273,698

$

333,514

$

419,291

Adjusted EBITDA Margin

36

%

37

%

38

%

44

%

49

%

AppLovin Corporation

Segment Information

(in thousands)

The following table provides selected financial data for our reportable segments for the periods indicated:

3Q22

4Q22

1Q23

2Q23

3Q23

Revenue:

Software Platform

$

306,592

$

306,195

$

354,758

$

406,063

$

504,452

Apps

406,507

396,112

360,647

344,102

359,804

Total Revenue

$

713,099

$

702,307

$

715,405

$

750,165

$

864,256

Segment Adjusted EBITDA:

Software Platform

$

190,256

$

185,860

$

218,694

$

272,886

$

364,117

Apps

67,381

73,740

55,004

60,628

55,174

Total Segment Adjusted EBITDA

$

257,637

$

259,600

$

273,698

$

333,514

$

419,291

Interest expense and loss on settlement of debt

(48,627

)

(54,722

)

(74,511

)

(50,987

)

(78,583

)

Interest income and other, net

3,604

10,174

9,771

15,817

771

Amortization, depreciation and write-offs

(136,094

)

(129,313

)

(128,208

)

(119,892

)

(121,797

)

Impairment and loss in connection with sale of long-lived assets

(27,736

)

(100,156

)

Non-operating foreign exchange gain (loss)

406

(1,519

)

672

(126

)

613

Stock-based compensation

(42,147

)

(47,669

)

(82,966

)

(81,253

)

(110,839

)

Acquisition-related expense and transaction bonus

(4,317

)

(227

)

(517

)

(247

)

(231

)

Restructuring costs

(1,117

)

(2,340

)

(1,292

)

(1,024

)

Income (loss) before provision for tax

$

1,609

$

(66,172

)

$

(3,353

)

$

95,802

$

109,225

Segment Adjusted EBITDA Margin:

Software Platform

62

%

61

%

62

%

67

%

72

%

Apps

17

%

19

%

15

%

18

%

15

%