AppLovin scraps acquisition and takes debt financing instead

The story of AppLovin‘s acquisition has taken another turn.

We first reported that the mobile ad startup was in acquisition talks in August of last year, and the announcement came a month later: AppLovin would sell a majority stake Chinese private equity firm Orient Hontai Capital.

Today, however, CEO Adam Foroughi revealed that the deal is (sort of) off. Instead of an outright acquisition, the firm will provide AppLovin with $841 million in debt financing — that’s on top of the 9.98 percent stake that Orient Hontai already acquired in January, thanks to a $140 million equity investment.

“This debt financing allows us to maintain full control of our business while accessing additional capital to help finance our continued global growth,” Foroughi wrote. “Our goal remains enabling developers of all sizes to grow their businesses.”

Reuters reports that the U.S. government opposed the deal. Apparently this is part of a larger trend, with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States becoming more reluctant to approve Chinese deals since the inauguration of Donald Trump.