Foroughi on Wednesday characterized AppLovin's TikTok proposal as "a long shot." But he said the company goes "after long shots," which "shouldn't be surprising to our shareholders at this point."

He said that AppLovin's TikTok plans would involve overseeing the app's U.S. business and its operations in other parts of the world, but not China.

"We think the biggest priority is to solve national security concerns with regards to biases in the algo and data in the U.S., but that's important outside of China everywhere," Foroughi said. "And to do that, you really, truly do have to have operational control."