Twitter is selling its in-app monetisation business MoPub to app marketing and analytics firm AppLovin for $1.05bn (£773m) in cash, a substantial premium on the roughly $350m it paid for the company eight years ago. MoPub generated approximately $188m in annual revenues in 2020.

Twitter said the sale would enable it to accelerate the development of owned and operated revenue products and drive growth across key areas for the service, including performance-based advertising; small and medium-sized business (SMB) offerings; and commerce initiatives. It also said it believes AppLovin is well positioned to grow and evolve MoPubs network of customers in the rapidly changing in-app industry.

“This transaction increases our focus and demonstrates confidence in our revenue product roadmap, accelerating our ability to invest in the core products that position Twitter for long-term growth and best serve the public conversation,” said Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey. “We thank the incredible teams and customers who have contributed to making MoPub a success within Twitter over the years.”

Twitter CFO Ned Segal said the sale positioned Twitter to concentrate more of its efforts on the “massive potential for ads” on its website and in its apps. “We plan to accelerate product development and replenish the near term revenue loss, with the goal of improving our time to market to deliver on our previously stated goal of at least doubling total annual revenue from $3.7bn in 2020 to $7.5bn or more in 2023,” Segal said.

MoPub is AppLovin’s second sizeable acquisition this year. In April, it bought mobile advertising attribution firm Adjust. Terms of that deal were not disclosed. At the time, Bloomberg reported the value of the deal as $1bn, though that figure has never been confirmed.