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Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP Files Securities Class Action Lawsuit Against AppLovin Corporation and Certain of Its Executives

via Business Wire

Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP (“Labaton”) announces that, on April 17, 2025, it filed a securities class action lawsuit (the “Complaint”) on behalf of its client Wayne County Employees’ Retirement System (“Wayne County”) against AppLovin Corporation (“AppLovin” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: APP) and certain AppLovin executives (collectively, “Defendants”). This action, which is captioned Wayne County Employees’ Retirement System v. AppLovin Corporation, No. 25-cv-03438 (N.D. Cal.), asserts claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, on behalf of all persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired AppLovin securities between May 10, 2023 and March 26, 2025, inclusive (the “Class Period”).

The Complaint is related to two previously filed actions against AppLovin captioned Quiero v. AppLovin Corporation, No. 25-cv-02294 (N.D. Cal.) (the “Quiero Action”) and Brownback v. AppLovin Corporation, No. 25-cv-02772 (N.D. Cal.) (the “Brownback Action”). The Quiero Action was filed on March 5, 2025, and the Brownback Action was filed on March 24, 2025. The Quiero Action and the Brownback Action were both brought on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired AppLovin securities between May 10, 2023, and February 25, 2025, inclusive (the “Initial Period”). The Complaint expands upon the Quiero Action and the Brownback Action by extending the Initial Period by approximately one month and alleging an additional disclosure of Defendants’ fraud.

AppLovin is a Palo Alto, California-based technology company that helps developers to market, monetize, analyze, and publish their mobile apps through the Company’s digital advertising, marketing, and analytics platforms. The Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants misled investors by: (1) failing to disclose that AppLovin’s revenue and profit growth were unsustainable because of the Company’s systematic exploitation of fraudulent advertising practices, including click spoofing and the use of a backdoor installation scheme to force unwanted apps on customers; (2) disclosing risks related to AppLovin’s breach of terms of service with third-party platforms that were materially false and misleading because they characterized adverse facts that had already materialized as mere possibilities; (3) falsely attributing AppLovin’s growth in revenue to the Company’s enhanced AXON 2.0 digital ad platform and the use of “cutting-edge AI technologies” to more efficiently match advertisements to mobile games; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, making public statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects that were materially false and misleading.

The truth about AppLovin’s fraudulent practices began to emerge on February 26, 2025, when Culper Research and Fuzzy Panda Research published reports (the “Culper Report” and “Panda Report”) alleging several issues with AppLovin’s practices. The Culper Report alleged that AppLovin exploited app permissions to force-feed silent, backdoor app installations onto users’ phones, often through inadvertent clicks due to poor user experience design. The Panda Report accused AppLovin of reverse-engineering Meta Platforms’ advertising data to target users and commit advertising fraud. On this news, AppLovin’s stock price fell 12.2 percent, to close at $331.00 per share on February 26, 2025.

Then, on March 26, 2025, Muddy Waters Research published a report concluding that AppLovin systematically used proprietary third-party data in ways that violated the terms of service of Facebook, Google, Snap, Reddit, as well as other platforms, potentially leading to backlash and service blocking and threatening the sustainability of AppLovin’s revenue growth. Following publication of this report, AppLovin’s stock price fell 20.1 percent, to close at $261.70 per share on March 27, 2025.

If you purchased or otherwise acquired AppLovin securities during the Class Period and were damaged thereby, you are a member of the proposed “Class” and may be eligible to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff in the related actions. Pursuant to the notice published on March 5, 2025, in connection with the filing of the Quiero Action as required by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, if you wish to serve as Lead Plaintiff, a motion on your behalf must be filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by no later than May 5, 2025. The Lead Plaintiff is a court-appointed representative for absent members of the Class. You do not need to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff to share in any Class recovery in this action. If you are a Class member and there is a recovery for the Class, you can share in that recovery as an absent Class member.

You may contact Connor Boehme, Esq. of Labaton at 212-907-0780 or cboehme@labaton.com to discuss your rights regarding the appointment of Lead Plaintiff or your interest in this matter. You may also retain counsel of your choice to represent you in this class action lawsuit. You can view a copy of the Complaint online here.

Wayne County is represented by Labaton, which represents many of the largest pension funds in the United States and internationally with combined assets under management of more than $4.5 trillion. Labaton’s litigation reputation is built on its half-century of securities litigation experience, more than ninety full-time attorneys, and in-house team of investigators, financial analysts, and forensic accountants. Labaton has been recognized for its excellence by the courts and peers, and it is consistently ranked in leading industry publications. Offices are located in New York, Delaware, London, and Washington, D.C. More information about Labaton is available at labaton.com.

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