The Trade Desk’s 10 Years on Wall Street: Booms, Busts, and the Battle for What’s Next

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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.

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