AppLovin abandons effort to acquire Unity after $20 billion bid was rejected

Game developer AppLovin said it’s giving up on its effort to buy Unity.

After Unity shareholders rejected the $20 billion bid last month, AppLovin said on Monday that it won’t submit another proposal to acquire the video game software company.

“Following careful consideration, AppLovin concluded that its path as the independent market leader is better for its stockholders and other stakeholders,” the company said.

In early August, AppLovin offered to buy Unity for $58.85 per share, which was a premium of about 18% to the prior day’s closing price. Unity responded by saying the deal was “not in the best interests of Unity shareholders.” Instead of taking that offer, Unity recommended that shareholders vote in favor of its own $4.4 billion proposed acquisition of mobile advertising technology firm IronSource, which was agreed upon in July.

With AppLovin’s proposal, Unity would have had to abandon the IronSource deal. It also would have made Unity CEO John Riccitiello the CEO of the combined company.

“We remain excited about the long-term growth potential of our core markets and AppLovin,” said CEO Adam Foroughi in the statement. “Our experienced and dedicated team will continue to focus on what we can control, including continual improvements to our products and technology and expanding into newer high-growth markets.” 

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