AppLovin (APP) RSU sell-vs-hold
Calculator · free · no signup · APPSell at vest or hold? Compare after-tax payout from selling AppLovin RSUs at vest vs. holding through the LTCG cliff at 12 months.
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Your vest
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1 yr
$47,709
Sell + invest wins by $4,981 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Heads-up: under-withholding. Your employer withholds federal tax at the IRS supplemental rate (22.0% on this vest, ≈ $17,600). Your marginal federal rate on this vest is 32.7%, owing $26,171. Expect to settle the $8,571 gap at tax time.
The hidden purchase
Tax was paid at vest either way. Holding is mathematically equivalent to taking $44,509 in after-tax cash and buying $44,509 of APP today.
Most diversification frameworks would advise against a purchase that size in a single name; the right answer depends on your conviction in APP. Holding past one year converts the gain to LTCG.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$1,160 |
| Additional Medicare | −$720 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $4,451 |
| Cap-gain tax on diversified gain — LTCG (federal + state + NIIT) | −$1,251 |
| Net at year 1 yr | $47,709 |
Sell every share at vest; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Hold 1 yr
| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Vest tax (federal + state + FICA) | |
| Net at year 1 yr | $42,728 |
Sold 444 shares to cover vest tax (net-settled); kept 556 shares 1 yr to qualify for long-term capital gains.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're still employed at vest.
Both columns are stated in year-1 yr dollars. The sell side compounds at the market return; the hold side compounds at your single-stock expected return after a 20% volatility drag.
Estimates only. Assumes net-settled (sell-to-cover) vesting; double-trigger and pre-IPO RSUs are out of scope. Excludes multi-state moves, AMT interactions on other equity, and 83(b) elections. Not financial advice.
You evaluated one RSU vest. The beta plans every vest of every grant across years, with concentration and AMT in the loop.
Request beta access →Related calculators: RSU Lot Order Calculator · Stock Concentration Calculator
About AppLovin
AppLovin (APP) is a public Marketing company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Palo Alto, CA.
Last close: $268.22 per share (as of 2026-10-03).
Equity grants at AppLovin typically include restricted stock units (RSUs).
AppLovin Corporation is an American mobile technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 2012, the company helps developers market, monetize, analyze and publish their apps through its mobile advertising, marketing, and analytics platforms, SSP MAX; DSP AppDiscovery; and SparkLabs creative studio. The company also invests in various mobile game publishers.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Adam Foroughi and co-founders started the company in 2012 helping mobile developers buy users, then built the advertising infrastructure underneath it and for years also owned the games that ran on it. Selling the games studios in 2025 completed a shift to being purely an advertising platform, where machine-learning bidding models decide which ad to show and at what price. The economics are those of an auction marketplace: better prediction produces better targeting, which attracts more spend, which produces more training data. Expansion beyond gaming into e-commerce advertising is the current growth thesis. Headquarters are in Palo Alto, California.
Sources: sec.gov · en.wikipedia.org
Equity comp at AppLovin
- AppLovin's Executive Change in Control and Severance Plan (adopted 2021) uses a double-trigger structure: equity acceleration and severance only trigger if a change in control is followed by an involuntary termination without cause or a resignation for good reason within a defined change-in-control window (roughly 3 months before to 12 months after closing). CEO Adam Foroughi receives enhanced terms (24 months base salary and COBRA vs 18 months for other named executives) under this same double-trigger framework.
- RSUs use double-trigger vesting. Two things must both happen before the shares are yours: (1) the normal time-based vesting completes, and (2) the company has a liquidity event (an IPO or an acquisition). Until both happen, you do not yet own the shares and you do not owe tax on them.
Sources: sec.gov · sec.gov · sec.gov
Researched 2026-08-20.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by AppLovin.
AppLovin (APP) RSUs vest as ordinary income at the price on vest day. The decision is whether to sell at vest and reinvest, or hold the shares through the 12-month LTCG cliff. This calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare like-for-like.
Example: 500 AppLovin (APP) RSUs vesting at $268.22 per share is $134,110 of ordinary income on vest day. After roughly 32% combined federal + state + FICA (~$42,915), the post-tax share value is ~$91,195. Holding 12 months for long-term capital-gains treatment then only matters for the price change between vest and sale; the ordinary income at vest is already locked in. The calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math.
All AppLovin tools → · Use the generic RSU Sell-vs-Hold Calculator for any company. Diversifying multiple RSU lots? See the lot-by-lot sell order →
AppLovin equity questions
- Should I sell or hold my AppLovin RSUs at vest?
- AppLovin restricted stock units (RSUs) are taxed as ordinary income on their value at vest whether or not you sell. The only open decision is what to do with the shares afterward: sell at vest and reinvest, or hold past twelve months for long-term capital-gains treatment on any further gain. The calculator above runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare them directly.
- Does AppLovin grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at AppLovin typically takes the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
- Do AppLovin RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- Yes. AppLovin restricted stock units (RSUs) vest only when two things both happen: the time-based schedule completes, and the company has a liquidity event such as an initial public offering (IPO) or an acquisition. Until both occur you do not own the shares and owe no tax on them.
One piece of the puzzle.
OptionsAhoy plans your AppLovin equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.