Applovin Corp: A cash-poor company with a distressed balance sheet and questionable asset quality, not paying income taxes. The financials of its overseas subsidiaries are suspect, exhibiting signs of revenue round-tripping and fictitious revenues. Insignificant AI R&D spend and a shallow AI team. (NASDAQ:APP)

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Sakura Research thinks that Applovin is a company with a large number of red flags.
This opinion piece is for informational and educational purposes only.
Sakura Research does not have any trading position on APP.

Applovin Corp (a NASDAQ 100 company)
NASDAQ: APP
Diluted market cap: ~US$140B

Applovin was a top performing stock on Nasdaq in 2024 and its CEO Arash Foroughi was the among the 10 highest paid CEOs in 2023. Impressed by its late 2024 share performance, we studied the 2024 Glassdoor reviews by employees of APPLOVIN. Then we started digging. While doing our research, the first publication by Lauren Balik came online. In the past few weeks, Lauren Balik at The Captain’s Log and Edwin Dorsey at The Bear Cave have uncovered more critical issues with APPLOVIN products and operations.

APPLOVIN’s finances, disclosures, overseas subsidiaries, and overseas operations raise many questions and require clarifications and transparency from APPLOVIN, as well as potential investigation by regulators.

Read our full report here, together with the 2023 financials of Applovin Singapore subsidiary (BRN 202315459Z).

For more info, contact us at info [at] sakuraresearch [.] com


APP_Singapore_subsidiary_financials_2023Download
Sakura Research Applovin 25-02-2025Download

One response to “Applovin Corp: A cash-poor company with a distressed balance sheet and questionable asset quality, not paying income taxes. The financials of its overseas subsidiaries are suspect, exhibiting signs of revenue round-tripping and fictitious revenues. Insignificant AI R&D spend and a shallow AI team. (NASDAQ:APP)”

  1. Applovin Corp: Suspect Financials and Fictitious Revenues From Brand-New Singapore Subsidiary. No Disclosures to the SEC. (NASDAQ:APP) – Sakura Research

    […] For 8 months in 2023, the Singapore subsidiary generated an operating cash flow of USD 108 million, and had USD 109 million in cash/cash equivalents at the end of 2023. It paid USD 378.68 million in dividends to the US parent for 2023, which is its entire net income for the year!Why is every single dollar of net income paid out as a dividend to Applovin US?There is no cash on the balance sheet, yet the dividend “cash” still flows to Applovin US?Days Payable Outstanding (DPO) is reported as 30 days according to the company’s policy. The actual DPO at the end of 2023 was 279 days. Absolute majority of the Singapore payables are owed to the US parent, Applovin.Why is there no disclosure about this to the SEC?How is this even possible, when Applovin’s normal credit term is about 30-59 days?The full report of Sakura Research on $APP Applovin can be found here. […]