Twitter sells mobile ad network MoPub to AppLovin for $1 billion

Twitter Wednesday said it was selling its mobile ad network called MoPub to ad tech giant AppLovin for $1 billion in cash.

Why it matters: Twitter says it will use the proceeds from the sale to bolster the development of its owned and operated products and to boost its own internal advertising products.

Be smart: Twitter is making a sizable profit from the deal. The company acquired MoPub in 2013 for $350 million.

In a statement, Twitter chief financial officer Ned Segal said that the company plans to double down on product development, which will help it reach its previously-stated goal of doubling annual revenue by 2023 earlier than planned. He acknowledged, however, that the sale will lead to some short-term revenue losses.

• "The sale of MoPub is all about increased focus, redirecting our resources and delivering faster growth in a number of key areas including performance-based ads, SMB and commerce," said Bruce Falck, Twitter's revenue product lead.

The big picture: Changes to privacy rules are forcing tech companies to rework their product roadmaps to focus more on making money from users directly, instead of focusing solely on highly-targeted ads.