Trade Desk to Cut Workforce by 15%. It May Not Be Enough to Turn the Stock Around. -- Barrons.com

By Kit Norton

Trade Desk announced Friday it's significantly reducing its workforce. But it remains to be seen whether that will be enough to turn around the ailing stock.

Shares of Trade Desk fell 3% to $14.65 on Friday after the advertising technology company said it plans to decrease its workforce by 15% as part of a broad restructuring effort.

The company in a regulatory filing said it plans to implement an organizational realignment to focus on long-term growth. Trade Desk, as part of the plan, will reduce its total workforce by about 15%. The company expects the headcount reductions to be mostly completed during the third quarter.

The company had 3,843 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, 2025, meaning the staff reduction would impact more than 500 workers.

Trade Desk estimated restructuring charges of around $39 million to $51 million related to employee severance and benefits costs in the third quarter.

The company in early August missed second-quarter revenue expectations and management at the time said the company was "taking decisive action to strengthen our execution, upgrade our platform, and sharpen our focus."

While Trade Desk is now taking steps to address its business, it's unclear if a workforce cut will cure the company and the stock.

Trade Desk stock has dropped 60% this year and has underperformed the broader market. The performance was even worse over the past 12 as of the closing bell on Thursday. Shares have declined 71% in that time frame.

Wall Street expects full-year earnings to fall to 40 cents a share from 90 cents last year. That would mark a second-consecutive yearly decline in profit for the company since Trade Desk posted earnings of $1.66 a share in 2024. Wall Street expects profit to keep sliding in 2027.

The consensus view is that revenue will also fall this year and continue declining in 2027, according to FactSet.

Write to Kit Norton at [email protected]

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September 04, 2026 10:08 ET (14:08 GMT)