From Adweek · Kendra Barnett · · 2m
The Trade Desk's 10 Years on Wall Street
The Trade Desk's stock plunged 91% from peak after decade of growth and AI ambitions.
In brief
The Trade Desk's stock plunged 91% from peak after decade of growth and AI ambitions. The Trade Desk's stock dropped 91% from its 2024 peak as it navigates declining revenue, leadership exits, and a push toward agentic advertising. Originally reported by Adweek.
Founding and early promise
The Trade Desk began in 2009 as a neutral platform for advertisers to buy media programmatically across the open web.
IPO success and growth
The Trade Desk went public in 2016 with a 67% stock surge and $203 million revenue, becoming the largest independent demand-side platform.
China expansion and challenges
The Trade Desk entered China in 2018 with Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu but faced regulatory hurdles and local competition.
Pandemic boom and retail media
The Trade Desk grew revenue to $836 million in 2020 and partnered with Walmart for retail media targeting in 2021.
OpenPath and AI innovation
The Trade Desk launched OpenPath in 2022 to connect buyers directly to publisher ad servers, boosting revenue to $1.58 billion.
Kokai and market backlash
The Trade Desk's Kokai AI platform faced negative feedback in 2023, leading to a 23% revenue spike but delayed adoption.
Netflix partnership and stock surge
The Trade Desk partnered with Netflix in 2024, boosting stock to $141 and a market cap of $69 billion.
2025 challenges and stock decline
The Trade Desk missed revenue guidance in February 2025, causing a 30% stock drop amid leadership exits and partner backlash.
2026 leadership exodus
The Trade Desk lost key executives including CMO Ian Colley and chief strategy officer Samantha Jacobson in 2026.
Agentic advertising push
The Trade Desk launched agentic advertising tools in August 2026 to automate campaign building and optimization.
Stock at 91% below peak
The Trade Desk's stock trades at $37.96, a 67.8% dip from its 2025 starting price and 91% below its 2024 peak.
Market cap and cash position
The Trade Desk has a market cap of $5.8 billion and $1.5 billion in cash with no debt as of June 30, 2026.
Future direction
The Trade Desk aims to prove agentic advertising can coexist with transparency and control through autonomous workflows.
The Trade Desk's statement
The Trade Desk claims the best days for the open internet are still ahead, despite a 91% stock decline from peak.
The big picture
The Trade Desk's stock dropped 91% from its 2024 peak as it navigates declining revenue, leadership exits, and a push toward agentic advertising.
