Key competitor ironSource is looking to acquire Unity Technologies for $17.5 billion, more than the US-Danish company’s current valuation.
A year after going public, app monetization specialist AppLovin filed an unsolicited takeover bid for Unity Technologies as it merges with ironSource, an Israeli solution monetization startup. AppLovin offered $58.85 per Unity share, which represents an 18% premium to Unity’s closing stock price earlier this week.
If Unity Technologies accepts this offer, it will own 55% of the outstanding shares of the combined company, representing approximately 49% of the voting rights. With ironSource, that’s about 73.5% of the combined company’s capital. In addition, the boards of directors of the two companies have already approved the operation…
Unity Technologies may be partial to AppLovin’s offering
If the deal goes through against the odds, AppLovin will become Unity Technologies and Adam Forugi, AppLovin’s CEO, will become the new company’s chief operating officer. Current Unity Technologies CEO John Riccitello will become CEO of the combined company. IronSource will receive severance pay. Unity Technologies also says its board of directors is considering the proposal. The company recently reported quarterly revenue of $297 million, up 9% from last year, while its operating loss widened.
Adam Forugi, CEO of AppLovin, said in a press release:
We believe that together we are building a market-leading business with tremendous growth potential that delivers an estimated Adjusted EBITDA of more than $3 billion by the end of 2024 and is in the best interest of the shareholders of both businesses. Over the past decade, we have built and operated a leading and innovative mobile app marketing and monetization solutions business. Unity Technologies is one of the world’s leading platforms that helps creators turn their ideas into real-time 3D content. With the scale that comes from combining our industry-leading solutions and the innovation that can be achieved by bringing our teams together,
China lures Unity Technologies into its networks
After coming to the country in 2012 to launch many hugely popular games including HoYoverse’s Genshin Impact, Unity Technologies secured a billion dollar joint venture deal in China with Alibaba Group Holding, China Mobile, OPPO, ByteDance/ Douyin Group, PCI Technology Group and G-Bits Network Technology Xiamen.
The company will retain a majority stake and control of the Chinese joint venture. A company called Unity China will soon begin building local versions of its core developer products and become the exclusive distributor of Unity products and services in China.