Unity has rejected an offer from Applovin in favour of their deal with IronSource
Unity Technologies has officially said no to a $17.5 Billion offer by the Applovin corporation which would mean they would have to cancel their previously announced deal to acquire IronSource.
The Unity board carefully considered the proposal presented last week and has finally decided against moving through with the AppLovin merger in favor of its ambitions to purchase IronSource to strengthen its mobile business.
Unity says that Applovins offer was unsolicited and the President and CEO of Unity John Riccitiello said that the board believes that the IronSource acquisition is “compelling and will deliver an opportunity to generate long-term value”.
In their statement, Unity said:”
The Unity Board reaffirms its recommendation to Unity’s shareholders to vote in favor of the previously announced ironSource transaction and recommends against the unsolicited AppLovin proposal. The Unity Board is committed to acting in the best interests of Unity shareholders with a focus on driving long-term sustainable value creation.”
Following Unity’s announcement last month that it would acquire ironSource for $4.4 billion in an all-stock deal, AppLovin reportedly hired advisors to develop an offer.
Under the proposed deal, Unity’s Chief Executive John Riccitiello would become CEO of the combined business, while AppLovin Chief Executive Adam Foroughi would take the role of chief operating officer.
Unity was very thorough though before coming to a final “unanimous” decision, The company reportedly completed a financial and strategic evaluation of the unsolicited proposal from Applovin even bringing in the assistance of Financial and legal advisors, and finally came to a decision that it would not be in the companies best interest to accept the offer.
If you want to know more about the offer, below is an in-depth video detailing the offer:
Even if the overall share price is up from before they got the offer, Unity shares have decreased by more than 7% after the announcement.