Tripledot has officially acquired all 10 of AppLovin’s game studios.
The $800m deal is half cash, half equity. Tripledot paid $400m for the 10 studios, but also gave away $400m in equity, meaning AppLovin now owns 20% of the UK-based firm.
Tripledot now owns Athena Studio, Belka Games, Clipwire Games, Leyi, Lion Studios, Machine Zone, Magic Tavern, PeopleFun, Zenlife Games and Zeroo Gravity. The most popular games in its newly-acquired portfolio include Matchington Mansion, Wordle!, Mobile Strike, Game of War, Hexa Sort, Wordscapes, Clockmaker, Cooking Madness and Project Makeover.
Tripledot now operates 12 studios with over 2,500 team members across 23 cities, and says it now serves more than 25m DAU. The publisher also now claims to generate nearly $2bn in annual gross revenue, moving it into the top five independent mobile game studios.
A deal between the two companies was rumoured back in March, and officially confirmed on May 7. The half cash, half equity deal officially closed yesterday, on June 30. The day after the acquisition was made public, Tripledot cofounder and CEO Lior Shiff told us that the $800m deal had “unlocked” a potential future IPO, and that Tripledot is still looking to acquire more studios.
Layoffs are unlikely, he said – “We’re not going to create a load of value by firing lots of people,” he told us, and suggested that Tripledot will remain focused on mobile for now. Despite its 20% stake in Tripledot, Shiff added that AppLovin will not have a board seat, nor have any say in Tripledot strategy or operations going forwards.
Shiff said today in a press release: “Today marks a pivotal moment in Tripledot’s journey. The successful closing of this acquisition takes us from being a high-performing challenger to a true global leader in mobile gaming. We’re excited to welcome the AppLovin Games studios and are looking forward to working with our newly joined colleagues at these studios to begin the next chapter of building the world’s most successful mobile game studio. A warm welcome also to Adam and the AppLovin team as our newest shareholders – we’re thrilled to be partnering with you.”
AppLovin cofounder and CEO of Adam Foroughi added: “We would like to extend our gratitude to our game studios who were an instrumental part of AppLovin’s journey. Their love for mobile games fueled our growth, and we wish them continued success with Tripledot Studios. The closing of this transaction streamlines the Company to its core business and allows us to fully focus on the exciting opportunities that will shape and define the future of our company.”
