Unity Rejects AppLovin's Enormous Takeover Offer

Last week AppLovin Corp made an offer to purchase Unity Software Inc in an all-stock deal that would have been worth $17.5 billion, with the condition that Unity drop its own bid for competitor IronSource. Today Unity has announced that it is rejecting AppLovin's offer and continuing with its purchase of IronSource, Reuters reports.

Both IronSource and AppLovin offer services that help developers grow and monetize their apps. A market analyst quoted by Reuters noted that Unity could likely get more from a takeover offer, and that the offer by AppLovin was likely a hasty move made to prevent the IronSource sale.

Unity's free game engine is used by game developers big and small, with some of the biggest titles developed in its engine including Call of Duty: Mobile and Pokemon Go. Tel Aviv-based IronSource isnt the only company Unity has had its eye on recently, with the company recently spending $1.625 billion acquiring VFX studio Weta Digital.

In a recent interview discussing the merger with IronSource, Unity CEO John Riccitiello received backlash for criticizing devs for not considering monetization. He's since apologized for the comment, though Unity has had other controversies this year including a layoff of over 200 employees.