A decade ago, The Trade Desk went public as a $1.1 billion bet on the open web.
Now, the adtech company has gone from Wall Street darling to a company under pressure, grappling with slowing revenue growth, partner backlash, and a stock down 91% from its peak.
Upon its founding, the company had a simple proposition: Provide a neutral platform for advertisers to buy media programmatically across the open web.
It positioned itself as a counterweight to the walled gardens of Google and Meta, which control both the buy and sell sides of closed media ecosystems. It was a compelling promise, and one the market bought.
