The numbers
$715 million: The Trade Desk’s second-quarter revenue, representing 3% year-over-year growth but the company’s slowest growth rate since 2020.
$241 million: Adjusted EBITDA, representing a 34% margin.
More than 95%: The company’s customer retention rate for the quarter.
$0.34: Earnings per share, coming in 17% lower than Wall Street projections.
$650 million: The Trade Desk’s third-quarter revenue guidance, below a consensus analyst estimate of $804 million.
The watercooler talk
CEO Jeff Green acknowledged the company’s lackluster financial performance during the earnings call with investors. “Our revenue growth is below our expectations and below the standard we hold ourselves to,” he said. “These numbers are not a reflection of our company or the long-term opportunity in front of us. We underperformed our own expectations.”
Green attributed the sluggish growth to two key factors: macroeconomic hurdles including tariff headwinds, inflation, and weaker consumer conditions; and issues with The Trade Desk’s own execution. “Some brands are falling prey to low-cost, low-decisioning methods like programmatic guaranteed, and fixed-price [buying],” he said, suggesting that the company has not been able to capture enough of the dollars that have shifted to cheaper buying methods.
Shares of The Trade Desk tanked nearly 25% in after-hours trading.
In 2024, The Trade Desk’s market cap hit a high of $59 billion and has since fallen 86% to around $8.3 billion.
The platform, which has consistently positioned itself as the anti-Google, voicing a commitment to transparency in open web advertising, has strained under intensifying competition from Amazon, critical product feedback from clients, and a fallout with one of its biggest clients, French agency holdco Publicis.
