The Trade Desk cuts global workforce by 15% in restructuring push

Adtech major The Trade Desk is reducing its global workforce by approximately 15% as part of a company-wide restructuring aimed at creating smaller teams and accelerating decision-making, CEO Jeff Green told employees.

The restructuring takes effect on September 4, with affected employees being offered transition packages, according to an internal email from Green published by The Current, a publication owned and operated by The Trade Desk.

“Today we have significantly changed the shape of TTD to make certain our people and resources are focused on our mission and vision,” Green wrote. “Tomorrow, The Trade Desk will be smaller by about 15% of employee count globally.”

Green said the decision was unusual for the company, despite workforce reductions becoming increasingly common across the wider technology sector.

“This was a difficult decision that we have not taken lightly. While this is a common practice in big tech, this has not been a common practice at TTD. We don’t expect it to become one,” he said.

The company did not specify the absolute number of employees affected or provide a geographic or functional breakdown of the reductions.

Green stressed that the restructuring was not being driven by concerns over the company's financial health. The Trade Desk currently has approximately $1.5 billion in cash and no debt on its balance sheet, he said.

“Our company is very healthy—our financials and business model are very good,” Green wrote, noting that annual revenues have grown from $202 million in 2016, when the company went public, to more than $2.9 billion last year.

The restructuring will see The Trade Desk organise employees into smaller teams, which Green described as “smaller pods and smaller scrums, but with greater focus.”

The aim, according to the CEO, is to enable greater “agility, focus, ownership, and speed” while allowing the company to reinvest in areas intended to drive its next phase of growth.

The Trade Desk has positioned itself as an independent demand-side advertising platform focused on the open internet, differentiating itself from large technology platforms that operate both advertising-buying technology and their own media inventory.

Green reiterated that strategy in his message, pointing to the company's longstanding bets on remaining focused on the buy side, not owning media inventory, and developing partnerships across data, media and retail.

“We’re positioning ourselves for growth,” he said, adding that the company estimates it has captured around 1% of its total addressable market.

The workforce reduction comes as The Trade Desk seeks to expand across areas including connected television, retail media, data and AI-driven advertising technology while competing for digital advertising budgets with major technology platforms.

Green concluded that the company would continue “reinvesting in growth, in innovation, and in the future of the open internet.”