
On Sept. 8, two market darlings took their rightful place in the world’s most-watched benchmark. Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) and AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) will join the S&P 500 Index. Both companies have been waiting a long time for this; many people thought the S&P 500 left out HOOD and APP from inclusion earlier this year.
This sentiment was logical. Robinhood and AppLovin entered 2025 with market capitalizations of $33 billion and $109 billion, respectively. Approximately 25% of stocks in the S&P 500 Index began 2025 with market capitalizations below those figures. Thus, it seemed inevitable that the two firms would eventually become S&P 500 constituents.