The Trade Desk (TTD) — Company Research

Last Updated: 07 Oct 2026

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTD) runs a self-service, cloud-based platform that advertising agencies and brands use to buy digital ads programmatically across connected TV (CTV), online video, mobile, display, audio and digital out-of-home. It works on the buy side only and does not own media, positioning itself as the independent alternative to the “walled gardens” of Google, Amazon and Meta. Clients paid for $13.4bn of advertising through the platform in 2025, and The Trade Desk earns a fee on that spend. It reports a single operating segment.

FY2025 revenue was $2,896.3m, up 18%, with GAAP diluted EPS of $0.90 and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.77. Growth has since collapsed: Q2 2026 revenue rose only 3% to $715.1m, below the company's own guidance of at least $750m, and Q3 2026 guidance of at least $650m implies a year-on-year decline of about 12% from $739.4m. The shares closed at $11.92 on 06 Oct 2026, down about 77% over 52 weeks, giving a market value of about $5.6bn. The company cut about 15% of its workforce on 03 Sep 2026 and left the S&P 500 on 21 Sep 2026.

This refresh draws on The Trade Desk's quarterly press releases (SEC 8-K exhibits), the FY2025 Form 10-K, the Q2 2026 Form 10-Q, the Sep 2026 special meeting proxy, SEC XBRL company facts and Form 4 filings, retrieved on 07 Oct 2026. It replaces the version published on 24 May 2026. Follow the price on ChartsView Live Charts.

1. Company Snapshot

Field	Value
Full name	The Trade Desk, Inc.
Ticker	TTD (NASDAQ)
Sector	Technology: advertising technology (demand-side platform for programmatic advertising)
CEO / Leadership	Jeff Green (Co-founder, Chairman and CEO); Nate Olmstead (CFO since 09 Jul 2026); Tahnil Davis (Chief Accounting Officer); Anders Mortensen (Chief Revenue Officer); Kristi Argyilan (Chief Commercial Officer)
Market cap	~$5.6bn (469.9m Class A and B shares × $11.92 at the 06 Oct 2026 close)
Revenue (FY2025)	$2,896.3m (+18% YoY)
Net income (FY2025)	$443.3m GAAP; GAAP diluted EPS $0.90; non-GAAP diluted EPS $1.77
Employees	3,843 full-time in 21 countries at 31 Dec 2025 (FY2025 Form 10-K), before a cut of about 575 roles (~15%) announced on 03 Sep 2026
Scale	$13.4bn of gross spend on the platform in 2025; adjusted EBITDA $1,196.4m (41% margin)
Fiscal year	Calendar year (ends 31 December)
Dividend	None

2. Bull Case vs Bear Case

Distilled from the full report below. Factual only, no ratings.

Bull Case

• Still highly profitable and cash generative: Trailing twelve-month free cash flow to 30 Jun 2026 was about $863m and FY2025 adjusted EBITDA $1,196.4m, against a market value of about $5.6bn.
• Debt-free balance sheet: Cash and short-term investments were $1,485.4m at 30 Jun 2026, with no borrowings.
• CEO bought heavily: Jeff Green bought 6.0m shares on the open market for about $148m on 02–04 Mar 2026 at $23.49–25.08 a share.
• CTV and international growth: CTV and video make up the low-50s per cent of spend, and EMEA and Asia-Pacific CTV each grew more than 50% in Q2 2026. International revenue rose to about 17% of the total.
• Google ad tech left intact: On 02 Sep 2026 the US court declined to break up Google's ad tech business, keeping the open-web market The Trade Desk relies on in its current shape.

Bear Case

• Revenue now expected to fall: Q3 2026 guidance of at least $650m implies about a 12% decline from $739.4m, after growth of 3% in Q2 and 25% in Q1 2025.
• Amazon DSP price pressure: Amazon's demand-side platform reportedly charges about 1% on open-web buys, against The Trade Desk's take rate of roughly 15–20%, and has been winning agency budgets.
• Margin compression: Q3 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance of about $160m implies a margin near 25%, down from 43% a year earlier.
• Leadership churn: Nate Olmstead is the fourth CFO in about 14 months, and the company is asking shareholders on 19 Oct 2026 to approve repricing of underwater options.
• Apple blocking its domains: Since late Sep 2026, Safari on iOS 27 has blocked The Trade Desk's ad-delivery domain and its UID2 identity domain; the issue was still open on 05 Oct 2026.

3. What Does This Company Actually Do?

The Trade Desk's software lets agencies and brands plan, buy, measure and optimise advertising campaigns across thousands of publishers and channels from a single interface. Its AI system, Kokai, values each ad impression in real time and bids on behalf of the advertiser. Around this it has built OpenPath (direct connections to publishers), Unified ID 2.0 (an identity framework to replace third-party cookies), Ventura (a TV operating system), Deal Desk, OpenAds and, from 2026, Koa AI agents.

The Trade Desk reports one operating segment. The disclosed revenue categories are by geography:

Segment / category	% of revenue	What it is
United States	85.5% ($2,476.7m, FY2025)	Agencies and brands buying US media, including most of the CTV spend; about 83% of revenue in Q2 2026
International	14.5% ($419.6m, FY2025)	Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Latin America; about 17% of revenue in Q2 2026, with EMEA and APAC CTV each growing more than 50%

Source: FY2025 Form 10-K geographic note and Q2 2026 earnings call. By channel, Q2 2026 spend was video including CTV in the low-50s per cent, mobile high-20s per cent, display low double digits and audio about 7%. By vertical, 2025 spend was led by food and drink (18%), medical health (14%) and automotive (13%).

4. The Business Model

How it makes money. The Trade Desk takes a platform fee, a percentage of the advertising its clients buy, plus fees for data and add-on features. Revenue is reported net of the media cost, so it equals roughly 20% of gross spend. Clients are mostly the large advertising agency holding companies and, increasingly, brands that sign joint business plans directly; 217 clients had such plans in Q2 2026, up 38%. The company carries no inventory and owns no media, so costs are mainly people and data-centre capacity.

Where the moat sits. Its advantages are:

• scale on the open internet: $13.4bn of spend in 2025 gives Kokai a large data set for bidding;
• independence: unlike Google or Amazon it does not sell its own media, which matters to agencies and to publishers using OpenPath;
• deep integration with agency workflows and data partners;
• industry adoption of UID2 as a cookie alternative.

The events of 2026 show these advantages are weaker than they looked: Amazon's DSP has won budgets on price, and Apple's Safari block hits the identity layer directly.

What changed in 2025–2026. Growth slowed from 25% in Q1 2025 to 3% in Q2 2026. The company missed its own guidance in Q2 2026, cut about 15% of staff, appointed a new CFO, CMO, Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Business Development Officer, and dropped from the S&P 500 to the S&P SmallCap 600. In Sep 2025 shareholders voted to extend Jeff Green's dual-class control from Dec 2025 to Dec 2035.

5. Financial Health

Sources: The Trade Desk quarterly and annual press releases (SEC 8-K exhibits), the FY2025 Form 10-K, the Q2 2026 Form 10-Q, and SEC XBRL company facts (data.sec.gov) for revenue, GAAP EPS, cash flow, D&A and operating income. All per-share figures are after the 10-for-1 split of 17 Jun 2021.

Fiscal Year	Revenue ($m)	YoY %	GAAP EPS	Adjusted EPS	Dividend/share	Long-term debt (YE)
FY2021	$1,196.5m	+43.1%	$0.28	$0.91	$0.00	$0m (Nil)
FY2022	$1,577.8m	+31.9%	$0.11	$1.04	$0.00	$0m (Nil)
FY2023	$1,946.1m	+23.3%	$0.36	$1.26	$0.00	$0m (Nil)
FY2024	$2,444.8m	+25.6%	$0.78	$1.66	$0.00	$0m (Nil)
FY2025	$2,896.3m	+18.5%	$0.90	$1.77	$0.00	$0m (Nil)

Notes on the annual table:

• Adjusted EPS is The Trade Desk's non-GAAP diluted EPS as reported. It excludes stock-based compensation and related tax effects.
• The Trade Desk has had no borrowings in this period; it has an undrawn revolving credit facility. FY2021 growth is measured against 2020 revenue of $836.0m.

Quarterly results (most recent first)

Quarter / Half	Revenue	Adjusted EPS	GAAP EPS
Q2 2026 (to 30 Jun 2026)	$715.1m	$0.34	$0.14
Q1 2026 (to 31 Mar 2026)	$688.9m	$0.28	$0.08
Q4 2025 (to 31 Dec 2025)	$846.8m	$0.59	$0.39
Q3 2025 (to 30 Sep 2025)	$739.4m	$0.45	$0.23
Q2 2025 (to 30 Jun 2025)	$694.0m	$0.41	$0.18
Q1 2025 (to 31 Mar 2025)	$616.0m	$0.33	$0.10
FY2025 total	$2,896.3m	$1.77	$0.90

Notes on the quarterly table:

• Q2 2026 in more detail: revenue +3% YoY; GAAP operating income $101.6m; net income $64.4m; adjusted EBITDA $241.3m (34% margin). Guidance had been revenue of at least $750m and adjusted EBITDA of about $260m. Results were released on 06 Aug 2026.
• Q1 2026 beat its guidance of at least $678m revenue and about $195m adjusted EBITDA, with adjusted EBITDA of $206.1m.
• Quarterly non-GAAP EPS sum to $1.78 against the reported $1.77 for the year because the share count changes.

Cash flow and balance sheet.

• Cash flow (FY2025).
  • Operating cash flow was $992.7m and purchases of property and equipment $197.0m, giving free cash flow of $795.7m (27% of revenue). Capitalised software of a further $12.8m would bring it to $783.0m.
  • D&A in the cash flow statement was $115.8m (XBRL DepreciationDepletionAndAmortization) and GAAP operating income $589.3m.
  • First half of 2026: operating cash flow $545.4m, capex $126.0m.
• Balance sheet at 30 Jun 2026.
  • Cash and equivalents $1,123.0m plus short-term investments $362.4m, a total of $1,485.4m.
  • No debt. Non-current operating lease liabilities were $353.2m.
• Buybacks. About $1.4bn was spent in FY2025 at an average of $52.60 a share. $164m was spent in Q1 2026 and $78m in Q2 2026, leaving $269m authorised at 30 Jun 2026.
• Q3 2026 guidance (06 Aug 2026): revenue of at least $650m and adjusted EBITDA of about $160m. Restructuring announced on 03 Sep 2026 is expected to cost $39–51m in cash.

6. Valuation & Market Data

Raw metrics, October 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.

Metric	Value
Market cap	~$5.6bn (426.8m Class A + 43.1m Class B shares outstanding at 31 Jul 2026 × $11.92 at the 06 Oct 2026 close; StockAnalysis shows $5.64bn)
Enterprise value	~$4.1bn = market cap ~$5.60bn + total debt $0 − cash and short-term investments ~$1.49bn ($1,123.0m + $362.4m), per the 30 Jun 2026 balance sheet. Operating leases are excluded.
Trailing P/E (GAAP)	~14.2x ($11.92 / trailing twelve-month GAAP diluted EPS of $0.84 to 30 Jun 2026). On trailing non-GAAP EPS of $1.65 the multiple is ~7.2x.
P/E (forward)	~12.9x (StockAnalysis, based on consensus estimates; The Trade Desk does not give EPS guidance)
P/S (TTM)	~1.9x (market cap / trailing twelve-month revenue of $2,990.1m to 30 Jun 2026)
EV/EBITDA (TTM)	~5.8x (EV ~$4.1bn / EBITDA ~$713m). EBITDA = trailing GAAP operating income $586.3m + D&A $126.7m (cash-flow statement figure, the wider XBRL DepreciationDepletionAndAmortization total). Q3 2026 guidance points to a lower run rate.
P/FCF	~6.5x (market cap ~$5.60bn / trailing twelve-month FCF ~$863m). FCF = operating cash flow $1,081.7m − capex $218.6m. On FY2025 alone, FCF was $795.7m ($992.7m − $197.0m).
52-week high	$56.39 (StockAnalysis)
52-week low	$11.74 (StockAnalysis)
Short interest (% of float)	21.27% (88.53m shares, settlement date 15 Sep 2026, MarketBeat; StockAnalysis shows 21.12%)
Days to cover	4.8 (MarketBeat, 15 Sep 2026; StockAnalysis shows 5.05)
Dividend yield	Nil (no dividend)

Price-based metrics use the 06 Oct 2026 close. Trailing twelve-month figures are FY2025 minus the first half of 2025 plus the first half of 2026, from SEC XBRL data. For live prices see ChartsView Live Charts.

7. What Are They Building

AI buying.

• Kokai “Zuma” release: Launched on 27 Aug 2026 with Koa agentic AI agents. The company says Koa cut cost per acquisition by 32% across 62 campaigns.
• Koa Agents: First announced in Q1 2026 with Stagwell, the agents automate campaign set-up and optimisation for agencies.

Supply and identity. OpenPath connects advertisers directly to publishers; Xumo became the first CTV publisher to integrate it through FreeWheel in Q1 2026. OpenAds, an open-source auction, counts The Guardian, Hearst and BuzzFeed among early publishers. Netflix and Samsung Ads were added as supply partners in Q2 2026. UID2 remains the company's identity framework, now challenged by the Safari block.

Television. Ventura is a TV operating system for smart-TV makers; DIRECTV plans a custom version, and the Ventura ecosystem with VIDAA and Nexxen launched on 24 Feb 2026.

Measurement and data. On 15 Sep 2026 The Trade Desk expanded healthcare measurement integrations with Veeva Crossix and IQVIA, and a new measurement framework is in alpha testing. Deal Desk, announced in Jun 2025, manages negotiated deals with publishers.

8. Competitive Landscape

Peer	Market cap (Oct 2026)	Key 2025 metric
Alphabet (GOOGL)	~$4.25tn	Q4 2025 Google advertising revenue $82.3bn; Google Network revenue $7.83bn, down from $7.95bn (Alphabet Q4 2025 earnings release)
Amazon (AMZN)	~$2.76tn	FY2025 advertising services revenue $68.6bn; Q4 2025 $21.3bn (+23%) (Marketing Dive)
AppLovin (APP)	~$93.3bn	FY2025 revenue $5.48bn (+70%); adjusted EBITDA $4.51bn (82% margin) (AppLovin release, 11 Feb 2026)
Magnite (MGNI)	~$3.6bn	FY2025 CTV contribution ex-TAC $304.2m (+17%), 45% of the total (Magnite FY2025 results)

Market caps are at the 06–07 Oct 2026 close from StockAnalysis statistics pages. Key metrics are the latest full-year figures available in Oct 2026.

9. Leadership and Ownership

Jeff Green co-founded The Trade Desk in 2009 and is Chairman and CEO. Through his Class B shares, which carry 10 votes each, holders of Class B stock controlled about 49.9% of the vote at 31 Dec 2025, and in Sep 2025 shareholders extended the dual-class structure to 22 Dec 2035. Nate Olmstead became CFO on 09 Jul 2026, after Alex Kayyal's departure was announced on 26 Jan 2026 and Tahnil Davis served as interim CFO. The largest insider transaction of 2026 was Green's open-market purchase.

Name	Date	Type	Shares	Price	Value	Plan Type
Jay Grant (Chief Legal Officer)	15 Aug 2026	Disposal (likely tax withholding)	13,355	Data not available	Data not available	Not verified
Samantha Jacobson (director)	28 May 2026	Sale	53,681	$21.14	~$1.13m	Not verified
Kathryn Falberg (director)	05 Mar 2026	Sale	152,828	$30.46	~$4.66m	Not verified
Jeff Green (CEO, via limited partnership)	04 Mar 2026	Purchase (four lots, 02–04 Mar 2026)	6,000,000	$23.49–25.08	~$148.1m	Open market, no 10b5-1 plan indicated

Sources: SEC Form 4 filings on EDGAR, listed via OpenInsider. Green's purchase was made in four price lots: 527,324 shares at $23.49, 1,472,676 at $24.16, 1,685,696 at $24.97 and 2,314,304 at $25.08. On 03 Mar 2026 he was also granted 398,089 restricted shares and 737,028 options with a $25 strike. Directors received routine stock grants in Aug 2026. No open-market insider purchases were found for Aug–Oct 2026.

10. Risks and Challenges

• Revenue decline (Operational): Q3 2026 guidance implies revenue down about 12% year on year, after Q2 2026 missed the company's own guidance. Management blamed weakness in consumer packaged goods and auto, together about 25% of spend, as well as its own execution.
• Amazon and the walled gardens (Competitive): Amazon's DSP reportedly charges about 1% on open-web purchases, and industry data cited by ppc.land show its share of tracked programmatic spend nearly doubling in about 15 months. The Trade Desk is reported to be offering fee discounts of 1–2 points, which would cut its take rate.
• Apple and privacy (Regulatory): Safari on iOS 27 blocks the adsrvr.org ad-delivery domain and the UID2 domain. If not resolved, this would hurt targeting and measurement on Apple devices.
• Leadership and governance (Governance): Four CFOs in about 14 months, a 15% workforce cut, an option repricing vote on 19 Oct 2026 and dual-class control extended to 2035 limit outside shareholders' influence.
• Securities litigation (Legal): A class action in the Central District of California (case 25-cv-01396) alleges misstatements about Kokai between 15 Nov 2023 and 08 Aug 2025. The motion to dismiss was denied on 17 Mar 2026 and the case is in discovery.
• Concentration (Financial): About 83–86% of revenue comes from the US, and a few large agency holding companies place a large share of spend. Budget shifts by a single holding company can move results.

11. Recent Developments

• 05 Oct 2026 — Safari issue still open. Apple asked The Trade Desk to test an iOS 27.2 beta, but the bug report on the blocking of its ad and UID2 domains remained open.
• 21 Sep 2026 — Leaves the S&P 500. The shares moved to the S&P SmallCap 600, with Illumina taking the S&P 500 place, as announced by S&P Dow Jones Indices on 04 Sep 2026.
• 18 Sep 2026 — Option repricing proxy. The company filed its proxy for a special meeting on 19 Oct 2026 to reprice up to 15.58m underwater options held by employees and executive officers.
• 15 Sep 2026 — Healthcare measurement. Integrations with Veeva Crossix and IQVIA were expanded.
• 03 Sep 2026 — Workforce cut of about 15%. An 8-K disclosed a reduction of about 575 roles, mostly completed in Q3 2026, with cash charges of $39–51m. The shares closed down 4.4% at $14.43 the next day.
• 02 Sep 2026 — Google remedy ruling. The court rejected a break-up of Google's ad tech business and imposed behavioural remedies instead.
• 27 Aug 2026 — Kokai Zuma release. A new Kokai release added Koa agentic AI agents.
• 06 Aug 2026 — Q2 2026 results miss. Revenue rose 3% to $715.1m, below guidance of at least $750m, and Q3 guidance implied a 12% decline. The shares fell about 24% after hours to $13.39.

12. Key Dates Coming Up

• 19 Oct 2026 — Special meeting of stockholders at 1:00pm PT to vote on the option repricing (record date 14 Sep 2026).
• Expected 05 Nov 2026 — Q3 2026 results after the US close. The date is a market-calendar estimate and the company has not confirmed it; last year it announced the date in mid-October. Guidance is revenue of at least $650m and adjusted EBITDA of about $160m.
• 31 Dec 2026 — FY2026 year-end.
• Expected Feb 2027 — Q4 and FY2026 results; FY2025 results were released in Feb 2026.

Macro events are on the ChartsView Economic Calendar, and you can discuss The Trade Desk on the ChartsView Forum.

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