IronSource and Unity Technologies estimate that the merger between the two companies will be completed in the fourth quarter.
After evaluating AppLovin’s proposed $17.5 billion offer that would have given Unity Technologies at least 55% of the combined company’s outstanding shares and 49% of the voting rights, Unity management Technologies and its advisors determined that the economics of such a combination were not shareholder interests, and believed that a merger with ironSource, an Israeli company specializing in app monetization solutions, could help balance its operations without overinvesting in ad technology.
Unity Software Rejects Unsolicited Merger Offer With AppLovin As Part Of Deal To Sell All Shares, Staying Away To Acquire Competitor IronSource https://t.co/0K2Lcm6HQi
— Bloomberg (@business) August 15, 2022
John Riccitello, CEO of Unity Technologies, comments on AppLovin’s rejection of a merger proposal:
The Board of Directors continues to believe that the ironSource deal is compelling and provides an opportunity to add long-term value by creating a single end-to-end platform that allows creators to develop, publish, launch, monetize and expand seamlessly. 3D games and real-time content. We remain excited about the agreement between Unity Technologies and ironSource and the significant benefits it will bring to our shareholders and creators using the Unity engine.
Unity Technologies will team up nicely with ironSource
The ironSource teams are committed to closing the deal with Unity Technologies as it will create more value for shareholders, customers and employees. As a reminder, this deal will offer Unity Technologies shareholders a 73.5% stake in the combined company against 26.5% to ironSource shareholders (the company is valued at $4.4 billion in the context of this merger) and should generate EBITDA of $1 billion by the end of 2024.
Contract with the US government for Unity Technologies
Unity Technologies recently won a multi-million dollar contract with CACI International, a company that provides the US government with surveillance technology in various government sectors. Mark Whitten, Senior Vice President of Unity Technologies, said:
Through this new relationship, we will help the government define Human Machine Interfaces or HMIs for aerospace applications and beyond. These applications require an interactive and robust user experience much like games.
The contract will be the largest digital dual solutions contract for Unity Technologies to date and, according to the company, will secure the Unity platform for future systems design and simulation programs within the US government. A Vice report published last year details how employees have spoken out against Unity Technologies’ past work with the US government. The company has struggled to explain why its employees, who allegedly signed up to create tools for game creators to prosper, are now, directly or unintentionally, developing technology for the military with the stated goal of warfare.