Adam Foroughi, Applovin CEO: Surviving a 92% Drawdown, Ads as ML 1.0 & the $50B Game Ad Market
AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi discusses building a massive ad platform in mobile gaming, navigating a brutal 92% stock collapse after going public, and executing an aggressive $6 billion share buyback. He explains why discovery-based advertising creates economic expansion compared to bottom-funnel search and details how AppLovin sustains 84% EBITDA margins with lean engineering teams across Palo Alto, Beijing, and Singapore.
- Over one billion people play mobile casual games daily, driving an estimated $50 billion in annual ad spend that most tech founders ignore. Read →
- AppLovin sustains an 84% EBITDA margin by operating strictly as an algorithmic matchmaker instead of expanding into low-margin agency services. Read →
- AppLovin went public in 2021 at a $28 billion valuation, hit a $40 billion peak, and then fell 92% to $3.8 billion in 2022 despite producing $1 billion in EBITDA. Read →
- Bottom-funnel search engines capture existing consumer intent, while discovery platforms create net-new consumer demand that expands the economy. Read →
- Adam Foroughi dismisses the myth that phones eavesdrop on conversations to serve ads, explaining that cross-site search footprints and browsing history already create fast predictive matching. Read →