# A falling stock price drew Vivas back to AppLovin

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/a-falling-stock-price-drew-vivas-back-to-applovin/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Rafael Vivas](https://realalpha.app/people/rafael-vivas/) · Rafael Vivas is a founding team member of AppLovin and cofounder of Lion Studios. · Co-founded Lion Studios, which generated over $250 million in revenue in two years, after joining AppLovin's founding team.
- Host: [David Senra](https://realalpha.app/people/david-senra/) · Host, Founders · Has read an entrepreneur's biography every week for Founders since 2016.
- Show: Founders
- Episode: [High School Dropout to Multi-Billionaire: The Relentless Drive of Rafael Vivas](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/), Nov 1, 2026
- Moment: 44:01 to 46:43 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/a-falling-stock-price-drew-vivas-back-to-applovin/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/?t=2641

## Quote

> “And Adam, you know, he looked at me and he was like, hey, I'm hearing from people you're thinking about coming. And I was like, **I'm fucking in**.”
> — [Rafael Vivas](https://realalpha.app/people/rafael-vivas/) at [44:56](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/?t=2696) · Founders

## Takeaways

1. The company’s stock fell sharply after its IPO.
2. Vivas returned because he believed the business needed him.
3. Leadership considered taking the company private.

## About this segment

After AppLovin’s IPO, the stock fell while the business kept growing. Rafael Vivas returned because he felt the company needed him, and leadership considered buying it back if the decline continued.

From “High School Dropout to Multi-Billionaire: The Relentless Drive of Rafael Vivas”, Nov 1, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[44:07](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/?t=2647) And I didn't have either of those things. And so my journey back to AppLovin was we're New York Stock Exchange, ringing the bell. We're all hanging out. So when you go public, you're still outside of the company? Still outside of the company. Okay. Great shape, by the way. So yeah. So go, you know, go there. We ring the bell and like first day out, stock drops, right? And, you know, I'm talking to people there and, you know, things, they were, the company is still growing, but like there was definitely some flaws within the business.

[44:42](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/?t=2682) And it was like very clear to me that like, I need to be here. Like, this is my calling. You found your purpose. This is my company. and, you know, we were drinking our sorrows. I wouldn't say partying because it wasn't like a super happy moment. You know, your IPO happened. happens, your stock immediately drops after. And Adam, you know, he looked at me and he was like, hey, I'm hearing from people you're thinking about coming. And I was like, I'm fucking in.

[45:09](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/?t=2709) And then I've been here ever since. I got drawn back in through the purpose of the business. And I knew there was a lot more I could be doing here. Do you think you would have made that decision if the business was ripping in a good spot and the stock price was going up? I think I would have, because at that point, there would have been nothing else for me to offer to the company or no value that I could deliver. I mean, So you would have stayed out of it.

[45:29](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/?t=2729) I would have stayed out of it, and I would have had to figure something else out. But I felt like at that point, the business needed me. And this is where I think you guys go public something like 28 billion market cap or something like that. And it goes down, I think, like, almost like every day for like 200 days or something like this. This is the legendary stock buyback, which we should retell this story now because it's incredible.

[45:46](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/?t=2746) The company's crashing. It's funny. It's like it's inverse, right? Stock is crashing, revenue is going up. And so, like, Adam tells a story better than anybody. But, you know, he just doubled down on buying up Lovin' Stock and levered up the company. And it was one of the greatest returns of all time, right? Yeah, because I think at the time, I think you went down to $3.8 billion market cap, right?

[46:04](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/?t=2764) Something like that. But I think you guys were doing like a billion in cash flow or something, right? And so the idea is like, let's take, no one else is going to buy our stock. Let's take this billion in cash flow, start buying back our stock. And then at one point, the company reaped like a $50 billion windfall on that decision to buy back the stock. Yes, yes. And it was funny because at the time, we were thinking if the stock continues dropping, We're just going to buy the company and take it private, kind of like Michael Dell did with his own company, right?

[46:30](https://realalpha.app/v/IdvsD61Rmmk/?t=2790) So that was kind of one of the directories we were going to go if it didn't keep free falling, because we thought it was such an incredible business, and we knew we wanted to continue running it. Well, that was going to be my next question to you.