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AppLovin Corp: control, investors, deals and disputes

Angel Pride Holdings and its AppLovin stake

Angel Pride Holdings Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, received a warrant over 26,021,583 AppLovin shares in 2019 and held 14.0% of Class A before the IPO. Its filings named Ling Tang as shareholder and sole director until September 2024, when Prominence Trust Limited, a Hong Kong trust company, became its sole shareholder; it held 5.6% in the 2026 proxy. Culper Research alleges that Hao Tang guaranteed its margin loan and controls it; rich lists still treat Ling Tang as owner. Neither assertion is documented in the filings.

published
23 oct 2026
records as of
16 oct 2026
entities
183
sources
118
cite entities.csv

1Holdings

analysisAngel Pride held 26,021,583 Class A shares before the April 2021 IPO, 14.0% of the class. The prospectus named Tang Ling as its shareholder and sole director, and its amended Form 3 states that she had voting and investment discretion. In February 2024 Angel Pride and Ling Tang reported 20,493,747 shares (7.7%) as of December 31, 2023; AppLovin's 2022 and 2023 proxies do not list Angel Pride among holders above 5%, while its 2025 and 2026 proxies list it at 5.6%. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

documentedAppLovin's proxy statements for 2022 and 2023, which list holders above 5% as of March 31 of each year, do not include Angel Pride Holdings Limited, although Angel Pride held 14.0% before the 2021 IPO and reported 7.7% as of December 31, 2023 in its own filing. The 2025 and 2026 proxies list it again, at 5.6%. 5 6 4 7 8 1

qualification
The proxy tables and Angel Pride's own filings are dated differently, and the record does not show Angel Pride's exact holding on March 31, 2022 or 2023.

analysisAn amendment signed in October 2024 reports that from September 17, 2024 Angel Pride's sole shareholder was Prominence Trust Limited of Hong Kong, sharing power over 20,493,747 shares (6.9%); Ling Tang reported that she no longer owned any shares. In January 2025 the two reported 17,244,541 shares (5.8%). Angel Pride's address is the Vistra Corporate Services Centre in Road Town, Tortola, and Prominence Trust's is 18/F, Three Exchange Square, Central. 9 10 11 8

sources in this section

  1. AppLovin Corporation IPO prospectus (Form 424(b)(4)) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 15 Apr 2021
  2. Form 3 amendment by Angel Pride Holdings Limited U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 2021
  3. SEC insider register page for AppLovin Corp as issuer U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR insider register) · 16 Oct 2026
  4. Schedule 13G amendment by Angel Pride Holdings Limited and Ling Tang (February 2024) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · Feb 2024
  5. AppLovin Corporation proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 2022
  6. AppLovin Corporation proxy statement for the 2023 annual meeting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 2023
  7. AppLovin Corporation proxy statement for the 2025 annual meeting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 2025
  8. AppLovin Corporation proxy statement for the 2026 annual meeting (Schedule 14A) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 20 Apr 2026
  9. Schedule 13G amendment by Ling Tang (October 2024) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 21 Oct 2024
  10. Schedule 13G amendment by Angel Pride Holdings Limited (October 2024) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · Oct 2024
  11. Schedule 13G amendment by Angel Pride Holdings Limited and Prominence Trust Limited (January 2025) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 30 Jan 2025

2Prominence Trust and the signatory

analysisProminence Trust is a licensed Hong Kong trust company registered under the Trustee Ordinance; its licence entry gives an address in Des Voeux Road Central, and an SEC full-text search finds its name only in the Angel Pride filings. The 2024 and 2025 amendments of both companies were signed by one authorised signatory, CHENG Hong Wai; none names the beneficiaries behind the trust company. Angel Pride's LEI record, issued in December 2021, shows registration number 1991856 and reports no parent, citing "no known person". 1 2 3 4 5 6

documentedProminence Trust Limited is a Hong Kong trust company licensed as a trust or company service provider (licence TC007284) and registered under section 78(1) of the Trustee Ordinance. An SEC full-text search finds the name only in seven filings, all relating to AppLovin and Angel Pride. The licensee list gives a business address in Des Voeux Road Central, different from the Three Exchange Square address in the Schedule 13G filings. 1 2

qualification
The licence details are read in a third-party reprint of the official licensee list; incorporation and registered-office details appear only in a business directory.

documentedThe GLEIF record for Angel Pride Holdings Limited (LEI 2549006J8NJDOLB5OQ51, issued December 13, 2021) shows a British Virgin Islands company with registration number 1991856, created in September 2018, at the Vistra address in Road Town. Instead of naming a parent, it records a reporting exception for its ultimate consolidating parent with the reason "no known person". 5 6

qualification
A reporting exception describes the absence of a consolidating legal-entity parent; it does not identify or exclude a natural-person beneficial owner or the beneficiaries of a trust.

sources in this section

  1. Regulatory record source · src-109 identified by category only · Regulatory record
  2. SEC full-text search for "Prominence Trust Limited" U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR full-text search) · 16 Oct 2026
  3. Schedule 13G amendment by Angel Pride Holdings Limited and Prominence Trust Limited (January 2025) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 30 Jan 2025
  4. SEC full-text search for "CHENG Hong Wai" U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR full-text search) · 16 Oct 2026
  5. GLEIF LEI record for Angel Pride Holdings Limited Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation · 16 Oct 2026
  6. GLEIF ultimate-parent reporting exception for Angel Pride Holdings Limited Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation · 16 Oct 2026

3Trade marks and addresses

analysisIn October 2021 AP Investment Capital Company Limited applied in Hong Kong to register "Angel Pride Holdings Limited" and "Angel Pride" as trade marks, giving the address 18/F, Three Exchange Square. The same floor address appears for Tang Hao and Discovery Key Investments Limited in a 2020 filing and for Prominence Trust in the 2024–2025 filings. Ling Tang's 2024 filing and Hao Tang's 2023 filing give addresses on the same Lai Chi Kok street, and Angel Pride, Asian Creative Capital and Discovery Key use the same registered-agent address in Road Town. Shared registered-agent and office addresses do not in themselves establish a relationship. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

documentedThe same floor address, 18/F Three Exchange Square in Central, Hong Kong, appears for Tang Hao and Discovery Key Investments Limited in a March 2020 Schedule 13D amendment, for AP Investment Capital Company Limited in the October 2021 trademark applications and for Prominence Trust Limited in the 2024-2025 Schedule 13G filings on Angel Pride. 2 1 3

qualification
A shared office or agent address does not by itself show common ownership, control or coordination.

sources in this section

  1. Hong Kong Intellectual Property Journal, trade-mark acceptances of November 19, 2021 Intellectual Property Department, Hong Kong · 19 Nov 2021
  2. Schedule 13D amendment on The Stars Group Inc. by Tang Hao, Uptrend Trade Limited and Discovery Key Investments Limited U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · Mar 2020
  3. Schedule 13G amendment by Ling Tang (October 2024) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 21 Oct 2024
  4. Schedule 13G amendment by Angel Pride Holdings Limited (October 2024) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · Oct 2024
  5. Schedule 13G by Hao Tang, Asian Creative Capital Limited and Midterm Success Limited U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 6 Oct 2023
  6. AppLovin Corporation proxy statement for the 2026 annual meeting (Schedule 14A) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 20 Apr 2026
  7. Schedule 13G amendment by Prominence Trust Limited on AppLovin (January 2025) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) · 30 Jan 2025

4Charges and short-seller assertions

analysisAn image of a BVI register filing reproduced by Culper Research records, for company number 1991856, a master confirmation of June 2, 2023 with J.P. Morgan Securities plc, with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. as collateral agent and secured party. Culper asserted that JPMorgan also held charges from January 2022 and August 2024 for a margin loan that Angel Pride's amended memorandum shows guaranteed by "Mr. Tang Hao", and that HSBC took a charge over Midterm Success in April 2024; the guarantee document is not legible in the record. 1

documentedAn image of a British Virgin Islands register filing reproduced in Culper Research's June 2025 report records, for company number 1991856 (Angel Pride's number in the GLEIF record), a master confirmation dated June 2, 2023 with J.P. Morgan Securities plc, with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association as collateral agent and secured party; the filing is dated June 5, 2023 and Culper describes the underlying transaction as a share forward. 1

qualification
Read only in an image reproduced in a short seller's report; the BVI register itself was not consulted, and no AppLovin or holder filing in the record mentions the arrangement.

analysisIn its June 2025 report Culper alleged that Hao Tang controlled up to 28% of Class A before the IPO through Angel Pride and Hontai App Fund, and that AppLovin's disclosures about Angel Pride were irregular, from the shift between "Mr. Tang Ling" and "Ms. Ling Tang" to its omission from the 2022 and 2023 proxies. The 28% equals the two holders' combined pre-IPO stakes, but the SEC filings attribute Angel Pride's shares to Ling Tang and then Prominence Trust. 1

attributedCulper Research also alleged that AppLovin's disclosures about Angel Pride were irregular: that the company first described the holder as run by "Mr. Tang Ling" and later "Ms. Ling Tang", left Angel Pride out of its 2022 and 2023 proxy statements despite continued holdings, and described the 2024 repurchase of 3,000,000 shares as a transaction with Midterm Success; and that the stake of the holders it links to Tang fell below 10% of Class A within two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court's January 17, 2025 TikTok ruling, which Culper read as transfers to undisclosed parties. 1

qualification
Culper Research published this while holding a short position in AppLovin; the account is its own and was not adopted by AppLovin or any authority in the record. The share counts Culper uses match the January 30, 2025 filings of Angel Pride (17,244,541 shares) and of Hao Tang's companies (9,969,535 and 2,000,000 shares); the filings do not say to whom any shares were transferred.

sources in this section

  1. Research source · src-079 identified by category only · Research

5Ling Tang in the press

analysisRich lists published in 2025 and 2026 continued to describe Ling Tang as owner of Angel Pride's stake, about 5% of AppLovin, although her own filing reports no shares from October 2024. Short seller CapitalWatch, as summarised by an online encyclopedia, and a 2026 crypto-news article describe her as Hao Tang's sister; no filing or register in the record states a family relationship. 1 2 3 4

attributedBusiness-media rich lists published in 2025 and 2026 continued to treat Ling Tang as the owner of Angel Pride's AppLovin stake: a U.S. magazine's billionaire profile of March 2026 said she owns 5% of AppLovin through Angel Pride, a Canadian magazine's 2025 list put her holding at about 17.2 million shares (about 5.8%), and global rich lists in 2025 and 2026 ranked her by wealth derived from AppLovin. 1 2 3

qualification
Ling Tang's own October 2024 filing reports that she no longer beneficially owned any shares, after Prominence Trust became Angel Pride's sole shareholder; the lists do not explain their basis beyond SEC filings and may rely on earlier ones. They do not show that she is a beneficiary of Prominence Trust.

sources in this section

  1. Media source · src-004 identified by category only · Media
  2. Media source · src-115 identified by category only · Media
  3. Other source · src-104 identified by category only · Other
  4. Media source · src-114 identified by category only · Media

Recorded connections

cite this dossier

DossierTwist, “AppLovin Corp: control, investors, deals and disputes”, dt.026, 23 October 2026, https://dossiertwist.com/dossiers/applovin-corp/

Free to read, cite and republish with credit under CC BY 4.0: credit “DossierTwist” and link to the dossier.

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