--- title: "Hao Tang: AppLovin holdings, companies and allegations" language: en canonical: https://dossiertwist.com/dossiers/applovin-corp/hao-tang/ as_of: 2026-10-16 keywords: ["AppLovin","Adam Foroughi","Herald Chen","KKR Denali","Voting Agreement","Angel Pride Holdings","Hontai App Fund","Orient Hontai","Hao Tang","Midterm Success","Adjust","Machine Zone","Tripledot","MoPub","Culper Research","Muddy Waters Research","Fuzzy Panda Research","securities class action","The Privacy Collective","Hart-Scott-Rodino Act"] --- # Hao Tang: AppLovin holdings, companies and allegations - Role: Holder of AppLovin shares through British Virgin Islands companies - Also known as: Tang Hao **Question.** What do the filings show about Hao Tang and his companies, and what has been alleged about him? **Answer.** Hao Tang reported 8.4% of AppLovin's Class A shares in 2023 and 4.0% at the end of 2024, held through Midterm Success and Discovery Key; AppLovin bought back 3,000,000 shares from Midterm Success in 2024. He was chief executive and 71% owner of Goldenway, Inc. in 2012 through a trust. China obtained an Interpol red notice against him, but a French court refused extradition in January 2025. Short sellers' allegations against him are undocumented, and CapitalWatch retracted its statements about him in 2026. ## AppLovin holdings - Analysis: In a Schedule 13G of October 2023 Hao Tang reported 23,167,242 Class A shares (8.4%) as of September 26, 2023, held by Midterm Success Limited, a BVI company wholly owned by Asian Creative Capital Limited, which he wholly owned; Xuanhui Liu signed for Midterm Success. Under an agreement of March 7, 2024 AppLovin bought back 3,000,000 shares from Midterm Success at $60.74 each, about $182 million, a related-party transaction. [src-005] [src-041] - Analysis: In January 2025 Tang reported 11,969,535 shares (4.0%) at the end of 2024: 9,969,535 held by Midterm Success and 2,000,000 by Discovery Key Investments Limited, also wholly his; Kevin Shum signed for the three companies. AppLovin's 2025 and 2026 proxies do not list him above 5%. A March 2026 press report put his stake at about 3.2%, citing a 2025 filing. [src-011] [src-086] ## Other companies - Analysis: A March 2020 Schedule 13D on The Stars Group names Tang Hao as director of Uptrend Trade Limited and Discovery Key, with a contact address at 18/F Three Exchange Square; Discovery Key had bought Stars Group shares in 2017, and by the filing date Tang held 119,700 shares. He and the two companies stated that in the previous five years they had not been convicted in a criminal proceeding or found to have violated securities laws. [src-089] - Analysis: Goldenway, Inc., a Nevada company based in Hong Kong, reported for 2012 that its former chief executive Hao Tang beneficially owned 71% of its shares through Goldenway Investments Holdings, Fenton Capital and The Fenton Trust, of which he was sole beneficiary; its subsidiaries included Goldenway Precious Metals of Hong Kong and Goldenway Global Investments (UK), and Tang held 29% of a Chinese IT supplier, Shenzhen Gateway Technology. A 2020 Hong Kong announcement shows the same trust structure, with Montclair Trustees as trustee, selling Goldenway Investments (HK). [src-092] [src-109] [src-084] - Documented: Goldenway, Inc., a Nevada company with its head office in Hong Kong, reported in its annual report for 2012 that its former chief executive officer Hao Tang, employed under an agreement of September 30, 2011, beneficially owned 10,408,301 of its shares (71%) at December 31, 2012. The shares were held by Goldenway Investments Holdings Limited, wholly controlled by Fenton Capital Inc., which was wholly controlled by SMP Trustees (NZ) Limited as trustee of The Fenton Trust, of which Hao Tang was the sole beneficiary. [src-092] - Qualification: The filings name a Hao Tang or Tang Hao without an identifier that ties him to the AppLovin investor; the link rests on short-seller and press accounts and matching Hong Kong contact details. - Documented: The same report lists Goldenway Precious Metals Limited (Hong Kong) and Goldenway Global Investments (UK) Limited among Goldenway, Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiaries and states that its former chief executive Hao Tang held 29% of Shenzhen Gateway Technology Co. Ltd., a Chinese IT supplier of the group. [src-092] - Qualification: The filings name a Hao Tang or Tang Hao without an identifier that ties him to the AppLovin investor; the link rests on short-seller and press accounts and matching Hong Kong contact details. - Documented: A January 2020 announcement by Hong Kong-listed Prosperous Future Holdings states that Goldenway Investments Holdings Limited, wholly owned by Fenton Capital Inc., which is 100% controlled by Montclair Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited as trustee of The Fenton Trust, of which Mr. Tang Hao is the sole beneficiary, was selling its remaining 90% of Goldenway Investments (HK) Limited and a related asset manager for HK$27,968,000. Montclair Trustees is a licensed trust company in Hong Kong. [src-109] [src-084] - Qualification: The filings name a Hao Tang or Tang Hao without an identifier that ties him to the AppLovin investor; the link rests on short-seller and press accounts and matching Hong Kong contact details. The announcement does not mention AppLovin. - Analysis: In 2017 the UK Financial Conduct Authority partly refused Goldenway Global Investments (UK)'s application to approve an individual for compliance and money-laundering reporting roles, recording that the firm was controlled by Goldenway Precious Metals. In a judgment after a September 2023 hearing, a London employment tribunal found that the firm unfairly dismissed its compliance director because of protected disclosures he made to the FCA. [src-090] [src-083] - Documented: In a Final Notice of August 21, 2017 the UK Financial Conduct Authority partly refused an application by Goldenway Global Investments (UK) Limited to approve an individual for its compliance-oversight and money-laundering reporting functions, finding his fitness for those roles not shown. The notice records that the firm was controlled by Goldenway Precious Metals Limited of Hong Kong, served mainly Chinese clients and relied on connected entities in Hong Kong for some functions. [src-090] - Qualification: The notice concerns the approval of an individual, not a restriction of the firm's business, and does not name Hao Tang. - Documented: A London employment tribunal judgment after a hearing in September 2023 found that Goldenway Global Investments (UK) Limited, wholly owned by Goldenway Precious Metals Limited, unfairly dismissed its compliance director, and that the dismissal was automatically unfair because he made qualifying public interest disclosures to the FCA on July 21, 2022. The claimant said those disclosures concerned unauthorised director appointments, money laundering through an associated company, management of the firm from Hong Kong and a UK visa matter. [src-083] - Qualification: The judgment decides the employment claims; it does not find that the matters the claimant reported occurred, states no compensation amount and does not name Hao Tang. ## Allegations and proceedings - Analysis: Press investigations published in 2025 reported that China obtained an Interpol red notice against Tang Hao in 2022, officially for "opening casinos" and illegal commercial practices. The Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence placed him under judicial supervision in September 2024 and on January 29, 2025 refused his extradition, finding that a fair trial was not guaranteed and the documents from Beijing defective; Tang said the accusations were fabricated because he had refused to hand over part of his profits to a security official. [src-067] [src-066] - Attributed: Press investigations published in 2025 reported that China obtained an Interpol red notice against Tang Hao in 2022, officially for "opening casinos" and "illegal commercial practices". After he reported his own presence in south-eastern France in summer 2024, the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence placed him under judicial supervision on September 27, 2024 and, in a decision of January 29, 2025, refused his extradition to China. The reports describe Tang Hao as an AppLovin shareholder. [src-067] [src-066] - Qualification: The French decision was not published or retrieved; its content is known only from journalists who saw it. The Chinese accusations were not tested in court, and the identification with AppLovin's investor comes from the same reports. - Response: According to the decision as reported, Tang Hao said the accusations were fabricated because he had refused to give part of his profits to the director of public security of Shanxi province. - Outcome: The court refused extradition, holding that the right to a fair trial was not guaranteed in China and that the documents supplied by Beijing were defective (missing signatures, irregular seals and inconsistent dates); one report says the court called the authenticity of the arrest warrant questionable. - Analysis: Culper Research described the Goldenway companies as one of Tang's main vehicles, asserted that he controls Southwind Media, which lists AppLovin among its investments, and tied him to a Philippine casino operator. The FCA notice and tribunal judgment in the record do not support its description of them, and its other assertions are undocumented. UK register entries under the name TANG, Hao are not attributed to him here. [src-079] - Attributed: Culper Research described the Goldenway companies as one of Hao Tang's main vehicles and asserted that the FCA restricted Goldenway's UK business in 2017, that a UK tribunal in 2024 ruled for a whistleblower who exposed an attempt to launder money and awarded him £560,000, that Tang lent money through a Goldenway affiliate to a businessman later arrested in France, and that he controls Southwind Media, whose website lists AppLovin among its "discreet investments". [src-079] - 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 FCA notice in the record is a partial refusal to approve an individual, not a restriction of the firm, and the tribunal judgment in the record states no award and does not name Tang; the other assertions are not documented in the record. Culper also named Tang as a director of UK companies, identifying him by a Hong Kong address and a partial identity number; UK register entries under the name TANG, Hao are not attributed to him here because the record does not establish that they concern him. - Outcome: The employment tribunal judgment of 2023 found the compliance director's dismissal automatically unfair because of his protected disclosures to the FCA; it is the only ruling on these matters in the record. - Attributed: Culper Research further asserted that Hao Tang and his associates are tied to a Philippine casino operator and, through it, to a Chinese businessman it links to espionage and trafficking operations. [src-079] - 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. No document in the record supports these links, and the third parties named by Culper are not identified here. - Analysis: In January 2026 short seller CapitalWatch linked Tang to criminal syndicates and money laundering through AppLovin. AppLovin, through its lawyer Alex Spiro, demanded a retraction, and on February 8, 2026 CapitalWatch apologised, saying its descriptions of direct connections were inaccurate and that it had wrongly associated a Bordeaux court ruling with him. Secondary accounts also linked him to the Tuandai lending fraud and a 2021 arrest in Bordeaux; a 2025 press investigation and Culper's own report attribute those to a different businessman. A March 2026 press report, citing unnamed sources, said JPMorgan Chase had ended a private-banking relationship with him; the bank declined to confirm any relationship. [src-082] [src-066] [src-079] [src-086] - Attributed: In January 2026 short seller CapitalWatch published a report linking AppLovin shareholder Hao Tang to criminal syndicates and money laundering through AppLovin. [src-082] - Qualification: CapitalWatch retracted the parts of the report concerning Tang personally within weeks; the report itself was not retrieved. - Response: AppLovin, through lawyer Alex Spiro, sent CapitalWatch a cease-and-desist letter demanding that it retract the "defamatory and baseless" report. - Outcome: On February 8, 2026 CapitalWatch apologised, saying that its descriptions asserting direct connections between Tang and Chen Zhi, Prince Group, Jin Bei Group, Tang Jun and Yang Zhihui "were inaccurate and failed to meet our publication standards" and that it had erroneously associated a Bordeaux court ruling with him; it said its view of AppLovin's financials was unchanged. AppLovin's shares rose 14% after the retraction. ## Sources - [src-005] Schedule 13G by Hao Tang, Asian Creative Capital Limited and Midterm Success Limited, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2023-10-06 - [src-041] AppLovin Corporation proxy statement for the 2025 annual meeting, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2025 - [src-011] Schedule 13G amendment by Prominence Trust Limited on AppLovin (January 2025), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2025-01-30 - [src-086] Media source · src-086 - [src-089] 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), 2020-03 - [src-092] Goldenway, Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for 2012, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2013 - [src-109] Regulatory record source · src-109 - [src-084] Company statement source · src-084 - [src-090] FCA Final Notice to Goldenway Global Investments (UK) Limited, Financial Conduct Authority, 2017-08-21 - [src-083] Court record source · src-083 - [src-067] Media source · src-067 - [src-066] Media source · src-066 - [src-079] Research source · src-079 - [src-082] Media source · src-082