- Deal will see Tripledot Studios acquire 10 studios, significantly expanding operations in key strategic markets, including the US and Asia
- Subject to deal closing, Tripledot Studios will operate 12 studios across 23 cities serving 25 million daily active users globally, with annual gross revenues of nearly $2B
- The acquisition will be half cash, funded from a combination of cash on the balance sheet and new debt, and half equity – making AppLovin a minority shareholder in Tripledot Studios
LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#GameOn—Tripledot Studios, one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile game developers, is today announcing the acquisition of AppLovin’s mobile games studio portfolio for approximately $800 million. The half cash, half equity deal will see AppLovin become a minority shareholder in Tripledot Studios while allowing Tripledot to expand its footprint in key strategic markets, including the US and Asia. As a result of this deal and subject to its closing, Tripledot Studios will operate a total of 12 studios with more than 2,500 team members across 23 cities globally. Tripledot will have over 25 million daily active users and annual gross revenues of nearly $2 billion, making it one of the top five independent mobile game studios globally by revenue.
Founded in London in 2017 by gaming industry veterans Lior Shiff, Akin Babayigit and Eyal Chameides, Tripledot Studios is one of the world’s largest casual games developers. Tripledot Studios has developed and operates over 25 live games, including hit titles like Woodoku, Solitaire.com, Nut Sort and Triple Tile, and has been profitable from its second year of operation. In 2023 Tripledot was named as the fastest growing company in Europe by the Financial Times.
“Creating and operating games is our passion,” said Lior Shiff, Co-Founder and CEO of Tripledot Studios. “Our mission is to become the world’s most successful mobile game studio. Acquiring AppLovin’s games portfolio is a big step towards achieving that goal – taking us from being a high-performing challenger to a true global leader. It gives us additional scale, diversification and access to the best talent globally. We’re thrilled to welcome these incredible teams to Tripledot.”
Tripledot Studios Strategic Rationale:
This acquisition brings three key strategic advantages that will set Tripledot Studios apart in the global mobile gaming industry:
- Game Portfolio Diversification and Shared Expertise: Tripledot is one of the world’s fastest growing mobile gaming studios, with no single game generating more than 10% of the total net revenue once this acquisition is complete. Partnering with AppLovin’s mobile games studio portfolio makes Tripledot the largest European mobile gaming company with expertise in both in-app purchase and in-app advertising business models. This enables Tripledot to create games for a much larger global audience and leverage best-in-class practices across marketing, product, AI and monetisation
- Access to a Global Talent Pool: Tripledot’s global footprint and expanded capabilities create an opportunity to leverage highly specialised experts across product, tech, marketing and art in a wider range of global geographies and creating better player experiences for tens of millions of people every day
- Instant Scale: Pending regulatory approval and closing of the deal, this acquisition will make Tripledot Studios one of the largest mobile developers and publishers globally and will supercharge its already comprehensive data science and AI capabilities delivering a better experience for our players
Adam Foroughi, Co-founder and CEO of AppLovin, said: “Seven years ago, we began acquiring gaming studios to help train our earliest machine learning models. However, we’ve never been a game developer at heart. We have immense respect for the creativity it takes to build games, including from teams in our studios. Today, we’re announcing we’ve finalized a deal to sell all of our Apps business to Tripledot Studios. I have watched Lior build his company from the ground up and I have immense respect for his and the Tripledot team’s ability to run a games company. Lior and his team are some of the best operators in the business and give me incredible confidence they are the right partner to help these studios thrive going forward.”
Tripledot Studios currently has offices in London, Warsaw, Minsk, Barcelona, Jakarta and Melbourne. They will be acquiring the following 10 studios and popular titles in an additional 17 cities across the North America, Europe and Asia:
- Lion Studios – makers of Hexa Sort, Wordle! and Found It
- PeopleFun – makers of Wordscapes, Wordscapes Solitaire and Bricks n Balls
- Belka Games – makers of Clockmaker and Train of Hope
- Zenlife Games – makers of Cooking Madness and Word Connect
- Leyi – makers of West Game and Mecha Fire
- Magic Tavern – makers of Project Makeover, Matchington Mansion and Modern Community
- Athena Studio – makers of Woody Block Puzzle and Woody 99
- Clipwire Games – makers of The Price is Right Bingo, Bingo Story and Monopoly Bingo
- Zeroo Gravity – makers of Cash Tornado, Jackpot Masters Slots and Carnival Tycoon
- Machine Zone – makers of Mobile Strike and Game of War
The acquisition is expected to close by early summer 2025, pending regulatory approvals. Raine Group acted as the lead financial advisor, together with BofA Securities, and Latham & Watkins acted as the legal counsel for Tripledot Studios. Aream & Co acted as the financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati acted as the legal counsel for AppLovin.
About Tripledot Studios:
Founded in London in 2017 by gaming industry veterans Lior Shiff, Akin Babayigit and Eyal Chameides, Tripledot Studios mission is to be the most successful mobile games studio in history. Our games reach 25 million people around the world every day. In the last 6 years, Tripledot Studios has developed and operates over 25 live games, including hit titles like Woodoku, Solitaire.com, Nut Sort and Triple Tile. Tripledot operates 12 studios across 23 cities globally, has more than 2,500 team members, makes nearly $2 billion in gross revenue annually and has been profitable from its second year of operations.
Contacts
Contacts for Tripledot Studios:
Mark Beck – CMO
[email protected]
Bryce Keane – Communications Advisor
[email protected]
