AppLovin Appoints Craig Billings as Independent Chair, Names New CTO
AppLovin restructures leadership with Craig Billings as independent Chair and Giovanni Ge as CTO, signaling acceleration of its pivot from mobile gaming to e-commerce and connected TV advertising.
AppLovin Corporation announced a series of leadership changes on April 2, 2026, appointing Craig Billings as independent Chairperson of its Board of Directors and naming Giovanni Ge as incoming Chief Technology Officer, effective July 1, 2026.
Three Executive Roles Changing Simultaneously
The announcements cover three separate transitions. Billings, who has served as Lead Independent Director since AppLovin's IPO, moves into the Chairperson role immediately. CEO Adam Foroughi retains his position and said the change allows him to "fully focus on strategic execution."
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On the technical side, current CTO Basil Shikin will transition to a Distinguished Engineer role on July 1, 2026, after nearly a decade leading the company's engineering team. Giovanni Ge, currently Chief Product and Engineering Officer, will assume the CTO title. Ge led development of Axon 2.0, AppLovin's AI-powered advertising engine, which delivered a 49% increase in average revenue per user in early Q1 2025.
Chief Administrative and Legal Officer Victoria Valenzuela will retire on August 1, 2026. She has been nominated to join the board as a director. Corina Cacovean, who joined AppLovin through the Machine Zone acquisition in 2020 and has led privacy, litigation, and regulatory teams since September 2023, will become Chief Legal Officer.
Foroughi said Shikin and Valenzuela were "instrumental in AppLovin's growth" and praised the internal promotions as reflecting "our commitment to talent development and thoughtful succession planning."
AppLovin's Expansion Beyond Mobile Gaming
The leadership changes arrive as AppLovin executes a broad pivot away from mobile gaming into e-commerce, web, and connected TV advertising. The company's e-commerce advertising vertical grew 44% year-over-year in Q4 2024, with a stated target of US$750 million in e-commerce ad revenue for 2025. Total company revenue grew 43% in 2024.
AppLovin is also launching a self-service dashboard designed to onboard more than 100,000 advertisers using AI-powered campaign management tools. Ge, as incoming CTO, will oversee that product rollout.
The company holds 536 patents and is targeting a 30% compound annual growth rate in non-gaming advertising revenue through 2027, spanning mobile, e-commerce, web, and connected TV.
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Board Composition and Governance Shifts
Beyond the executive transitions, board composition is also changing. Director Alyssa Harvey Dawson will not stand for re-election at the 2026 Annual Meeting. Valenzuela's nomination as a director means her institutional knowledge remains available to the board after her operational retirement.
Billings noted his familiarity with the company, saying he has been "a customer of the Company" since 2013 and expressed confidence that "Adam and the leadership team will continue to deliver long-term shareholder value."
UBS raised its price target for AppLovin to US$810 following the announcements, against an analyst consensus of US$708.67.
The CTO and CLO transitions both take effect in mid-2026, with Ge assuming the CTO role on July 1 and Cacovean becoming CLO on August 1.
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