AppLovin offered $17.5 billion for Unity, a developer of game design software.

Beijing time on August 10 news, game software company AppLovin submitted a takeover offer to peer Unity Software, asking $17.54 billion, all in stock to complete the transaction. Unity had already announced that it would buy ironSource, a competitor of AppLovin, and the deal could fall through.

AppLovin offered $58.85 a share for Unity, 18% higher than Unity's closing price on Monday. After the merger, Unity will hold 55 per cent of the new company's outstanding shares, equivalent to 49 per cent of the voting rights.

Last month, Unity announced it would buy ironSource for $4.4 billion, and AppLovin hired consultants to submit its own offer. If Unity wants to merge with AppLovin, the company's board of directors may terminate the ironSource transaction.

Under the proposal, Unity chief executive John Riccitiello (John Riccitiello) will become the merged CEO,AppLovin CEO (Adam Foroughi) will become COO.

Unity said the board would evaluate the deal. Both companies offer game design software. Call of Duty mobile games and Pokemon GO are developed with Unity software. AppLovin software can help developers promote App and make more money.

"this deal is a bit of a surprise for the industry," said Serkan Toto, founder of travel consultancy Kantan Games. "it's a desperate merger when a company valued at $15 billion buys another $15 billion company, and its chances of success are not particularly high."

AppLovin, Calif., went public last year, and Froggie said the combined company will generate an adjusted operating profit of more than $3 billion by the end of 2024.