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Shares of advertising technology company AppLovin and stock trading app Robinhood Markets each jumped about 7% in extended trading on Friday after S&P Global said the two will join the S&P 500 index.
The changes will go into effect before the beginning of trading on Sept. 22, S&P Global announced in a statement. AppLovin will replace MarketAxess Holdings, while Robinhood will take the place of Caesars Entertainment.
In March, short-seller Fuzzy Panda Research advised the committee for the large-cap U.S. index to keep AppLovin from becoming a constituent. AppLovin shares dropped 15% in December, when the committee picked Workday to join the S&P 500. Robinhood, for its part, saw shares slip 2% in June when it was excluded from a quarterly rebalancing of the index.
Technology companies Datadog and DoorDash became part of the S&P 500 earlier this year.
It’s normal for stocks to go up on news of their inclusion of a major index such as the S&P 500. Fund managers need to buy shares to reflect the updates.
AppLovin and Robinhood both went public on Nasdaq in 2021. Robinhood has been a favorite among retail investors who have bid up shares of meme stocks such as AMC Entertainment and GameStop. AppLovin itself became a stock to watch, with shares gaining 278% in 2023 and over 700% in 2024. AppLovin’s software brings targeted ads to mobile apps and games.
Earlier this year, AppLovin offered to buy the U.S. TikTok business from China’s ByteDance. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly extended the deadline for a sale, most recently in June.
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