AppLovin Corporation Announced Q1 2026 Earnings on May 6, 2026, Reporting "Revenue in the first quarter was $1.84 billion"

AppLovin Corporation reported its first quarter 2026 financial results, highlighted by revenue of $1.84 billion, which was up 59% year-over-year and 11% sequentially.

The company achieved an adjusted EBITDA of $1.56 billion, up 66% year-over-year, representing an 85% margin.

Free cash flow for the quarter was $1.29 billion.

During the first quarter, the company repurchased and withheld 2.3 million shares for $1 billion.

Management emphasized the strength of the core gaming business and a meaningful shift in how game studios approach monetization.

Games that historically relied solely on in-app purchases are increasingly testing hybrid models to unlock incremental ad revenue.

The consumer vertical is scaling rapidly alongside gaming, with April reaching a record month in advertiser spend that was higher than any peak month in the fourth quarter.A major strategic initiative is the opening of the Axon platform to the public in June, which will allow advertisers globally to sign up and run campaigns via self-serve access.

AppLovin is also deploying AI-powered ad creative tools, including an interactive paid generator and a video generation tool currently in testing, to assist advertisers in generating high-performing ads.

Furthermore, the company is building Axon to be natively accessible to AI agents used by advertisers to manage marketing spend.

For the second quarter of 2026, AppLovin expects revenue to be between $1.915 billion and $1.945 billion.

Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $1.615 billion and $1.645 billion, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 84% to 85%.

Management noted that capital allocation priorities for the balance of the year remain unchanged, focusing on organic investment and returning capital through buybacks.