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It’s been a roller coaster ride for Yalla Group Ltd. (YALA.US) in the year since the audio chat app operator became the first United Arab Emirates-based tech unicorn to trade in New York. That ride took a sharply positive upturn last week, when the company’s shares surged more than 30% over two trading days surrounding the announcement of its latest quarterly earnings.
That was just the latest of many twists and turns for the stock since its October 2020 IPO. Yalla is aiming to carve out a niche as a social media company focused on voice-centric chats, leading some to call it the “Clubhouse of the Middle East,” even though the company likes to point out it’s older than Clubhouse and has a stronger focus on leisure users.