Over the past three years, which company in the S&P 500 index has enjoyed the biggest rise in its share price? Nvidia, a mighty maker of artificial-intelligence chips? Only third. Palantir, a star of data analytics? That would have been right—until last month. The winner is AppLovin, a digital-ads firm that entered the index only on September 22nd. Since October 2022 its share price has climbed more than 30-fold (see chart). At $200bn, it is worth more than Uber. AppLovin’s boosters call it the TikTok of the mobile-advertising world, powered by a super-smart algorithm. Short-sellers call it a house of cards.
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