Adtech company The Trade Bureau is cutting back.
In a note late Thursday, The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green told staff he would be laying off 15% of the workforce.
In the announcement, which was also published on The Trade Desk’s news site The Current, Green said the aim was to restructure the company into “smaller pods and smaller scrums, but with more focus.”
The company said in a February financial filing that it had 3,843 full-time employees as of December 31, 2025, meaning the restructuring is estimated to affect more than 500 employees.
The news comes after the company reported disappointing quarterly results last month. Revenue grew just 3% year-over-year, lagging Wall Street’s earnings expectations. Green said at the time that the company “didn’t meet the standard we set for ourselves” and that it was taking steps to strengthen its execution, upgrade its platform and sharpen its focus.
The Trade Desk declined to comment further on the layoffs.
It has been a difficult period for The Trade Desk. Shares are down about 70% over the past year and are down nearly 90% from their late-2024 peak.
The company has experienced high employee turnover, including the recent departures of the Chief Finance Officer, Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Marketing Officer and four members of the board of directors. It has hired replacements for the CFO and CMO, as well as a chief commercial officer and two new board members.
It also came in one high-profile dispute with one of its major clients, Publicis Groupe. In March, the French advertising group told customers it was no longer recommending The Trade Desk, following an independent investigation into fees. The companies released a joint statement in June saying they had resolved their differences.
“In the context of being one of the worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 for two years in a row, losing its entire C-level management team and with expectations of a 15% revenue decline in the second half of 2026, the headcount cuts are not a surprise,” said Richard Kramer, analyst at Arete Research.
There were signs that The Trade Desk might be preparing for a reduction in its ranks. On Thursday, Evercore ISI analysts published a note summarizing the company’s “Rally in the Valley” bus tour. The analysts wrote that Chris Roth, head of investor relations at The Trade Desk, had said the company had “never significantly reduced its cost structure” and that there were likely “significant opportunities to address.”
In his statement Thursday, Green said the company was healthy, adding that it had about $1.5 billion in cash and no debt on its balance sheet.
“Our goal is to position the Trade Desk team to move with greater flexibility, focus, ownership and speed,” said Green.
The Trade Desk was once one of the independent adtechs biggest success stories. The company, which offers a demand-side platform that allows advertisers to automate and target their ad purchases across websites, apps and TV, rose in value after the acquisition. IPO 2016.
In recent years, the country has faced some hiccups in product adoption and intense competition. especially from Amazonwhich began a years-long effort to improve its own DSP and gain share from The Trade Desk and Google. This year, The Trade Desk, led by Green, has a combative tone in his communicationstargeting the media, Wall Street and industry players who have questioned its strategy.
Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company’s former senior director of financial planning and analysis with insider trading. federal prosecutors separately accused him of securities fraud. They alleged that he made more than $338,000 in profits by trading The Trade Desk stock using material, non-public information obtained during his employment with the company.
