AppLovin vs. Trade Desk: How a $10,000 bet played out over 3 years
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on November 5, 2026.
A $10,000 bet three years ago on AppLovin is worth about $90,358 today, while the same amount in Trade Desk leaves $1,654. That is a 55x gap between two ad-tech names.
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Starting from the same $10,000 on November 6, 2023, AppLovin and Trade Desk have delivered two of the most divergent outcomes in ad-tech. AppLovin's position grew to $90,358, a total return of roughly 804% and a 9x multiple on the original stake. Trade Desk's position shrank to just $1,654, erasing 83.5% of the original investment.
A $10,000 position in AppLovin is now worth about 55 times what the same dollar amount in Trade Desk has become. That kind of spread over three years is unusual even when comparing stocks within the same sector operating under the same general market conditions.
AppLovin's climb came with sharp pullbacks along the way. Despite that turbulence, the position ultimately settled at a 9x return on the original $10,000, rewarding investors who stayed through the drawdowns.
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Trade Desk's trajectory ran in nearly the opposite direction. After holding relatively close to the starting value early in the period, the position entered a sustained decline and never recovered, eventually landing at $1,654. Investors who held through that slide gave back more than four-fifths of their original capital.
The comparison illustrates how two companies competing in the same broad industry can produce radically different shareholder outcomes. The ending values between AppLovin and Trade Desk differ by 55 times across this three-year window.