The Trade Desk Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results

The Trade Desk, Inc. (“The Trade Desk,” the “Company” or “we”) (NASDAQ: TTD), a provider of a global technology platform for buyers of advertising, today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.

“The Trade Desk once again outpaced nearly every segment of digital advertising in 2024, delivering $2.4 billion of revenue – marking accelerated growth of 26% year over year – and a record $12 billion of spend on our platform. At the same time, we achieved significant profitability and cash flow. While we are proud of these accomplishments, we are disappointed that we fell short of our own expectations in the fourth quarter,” said Jeff Green, founder and CEO of The Trade Desk. “In December, we undertook a reorganization to accelerate opportunities across CTV, retail media, identity, supply chain optimization, and audio while forging ahead with innovations like Kokai and the Ventura Operating System. As more of the world’s leading advertisers shift to premium scalable channels in contrast to the limitations of user-generated content, the opportunity ahead is immense. In 2025 and beyond, we are uniquely positioned to help our clients take full advantage of data-driven advertising on the premium internet, helping them drive growth and brand loyalty for their businesses.”

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Highlights:

The following table summarizes the Company’s unaudited consolidated financial results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 ($ in millions, except per share amounts):

Fourth Quarter and 2024 Recent Business Highlights

• Continued Share Gains: 2024 gross spend of $12 billion.
• Strong Customer Retention: Customer retention remained over 95% during the year, as it has for the past eleven consecutive years.
• Continued Collaboration and Support for Unified ID 2.0: The Trade Desk is building support for Unified ID 2.0 (UID2), an industry-wide approach to identity that preserves the value of relevant advertising while putting user control and privacy at the forefront. UID2 is an upgrade and alternative to third-party cookies. Recent partnerships and pledges of integration and support include:
  • iHeartMedia announced its adoption of UID2 to empower its advertising partners with tools for effective targeting, precise measurement, and accurate attribution.
  • Leading supply-side platforms, including FreeWheel, Index Exchange, Magnite, and PubMatic have integrated European Unified ID (EUID) to enhance addressability across the open internet.
• “Ventura”, a Revolutionary Streaming TV Operating System (OS): Ventura represents a major advance in streaming TV operating systems as it solves key issues with prevailing market systems today, including frustrating user experiences, inefficient advertising supply chains and content conflicts-of-interest. The Trade Desk plans to partner with TV original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other distribution partners to deploy the Ventura OS.
• Agreement to Acquire Sincera: Sincera is a leading digital advertising data company that provides objective, actionable insights to the advertising ecosystem. Integration of Sincera’s tools with The Trade Desk platform will help advertisers gain a clearer perspective on what they are buying so they may better value those impressions. With this acquisition, The Trade Desk’s platform will also show publishers which data signals are most highly valued by advertisers. As previously announced, the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025.
• Industry Recognition (2024):
  • Institutional Investor Awards - Most Honored Company, Best CEO, Best Company Board, Best IR Program, Best IR Professional, Best IR Team, Best Analyst Day
  • U.S. News & World Report - Best Company To Work For
  • Business Insider Rising Stars of Adtech
  • AdExchanger Top Women in Media & Ad Tech
  • MM+M 40 under 40
  • Retail TouchPoints 40 under 40

Financial Guidance:

First Quarter 2025 outlook summary:

• Revenue at least $575 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $145 million

The Company has not provided an outlook for GAAP net income or reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA guidance to net income, the closest corresponding U.S. GAAP measure, because net income outlook is not available without unreasonable efforts on a forward-looking basis due to the variability and complexity with respect to the charges included in the calculation of this non-GAAP measure; in particular, the measures and effects of our stock-based compensation expense that are directly impacted by unpredictable fluctuations in our share price. The Company expects the variability of the above charges could have a significant and potentially unpredictable impact on our future U.S. GAAP financial results.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

Included within this press release are the non-GAAP financial measures of Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Non-GAAP net income and Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) that supplement the Consolidated Statements of Operations of the “Company” prepared under generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Adjusted EBITDA is net income before depreciation and amortization expense; stock-based compensation expense; interest income, net; and provision for income taxes. Adjusted EBITDA margin is Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue, and Adjusted EBITDA margin’s closest corresponding U.S. GAAP measure is net income margin, which is GAAP net income divided by revenue. Non-GAAP net income excludes charges and the related income tax effects for stock-based compensation. Tax rates on the tax-deductible portions of the stock-based compensation expense approximating 25% to 30% have been used in the computation of non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted EPS. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP amounts for the periods presented herein are provided in schedules accompanying this release and should be considered together with the Consolidated Statements of Operations. These non-GAAP measures are not meant as a substitute for GAAP, but are included solely for informational and comparative purposes. The Company’s management believes that this information can assist investors in evaluating the Company's operational trends, financial performance, and cash-generating capacity. Management believes these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate the Company’s financial performance using some of the same measures as management. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for or superior to corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures and may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies.

Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results Webcast and Conference Call Details

• When: February 12, 2025 at 2:00 P.M. Pacific Time (5:00 P.M. Eastern Time).
• Webcast: A live webcast of the call can be accessed from the Investor Relations section of The Trade Desk’s website at http://investors.thetradedesk.com/. Following the call, a replay will be available on the Company’s website.
• Dial-in: To access the call via telephone in North America, please dial 888-506-0062. For callers outside the United States, please dial 1-973-528-0011. Participants should reference the conference call ID code “277752” after dialing in.
• Audio replay: An audio replay of the call will be available beginning about two hours after the call. To listen to the replay in the United States, please dial 877-481-4010 (replay code: 51930). Outside the United States, please dial 1-919-882-2331 (replay code: 51930). The audio replay will be available via telephone until February 19, 2025.

The Trade Desk, Inc. uses its Investor Relations website (http://investors.thetradedesk.com/), its X feed (@TheTradeDesk), LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-trade-desk/), Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TheTradeDesk/) and Jeff Green’s LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefftgreen/) as a means of disclosing information about the Company and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. The information that is posted through these channels may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor these channels in addition to The Trade Desk’s press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls and webcasts.

Share Repurchase Program

The Company used approximately $57 million of cash to repurchase its Class A common stock in the fourth quarter of 2024. The Company used approximately $235 million of cash to repurchase its Class A common stock in the year ended December 31, 2024, at an average repurchase price of $93.97. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had approximately $464 million available and authorized for repurchases. In January 2025, the Company repurchased approximately $28 million of its Class A common stock.

The Company also announced that its board of directors approved an additional $564 million under its share repurchase program pursuant to which the Company may purchase its outstanding Class A Common Stock, bringing the total amount for future repurchases to $1 billion. This program does not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of Class A Common Stock, and may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time at the discretion of the Company’s board of directors.

About The Trade Desk

The Trade Desk^™ is a technology company that empowers buyers of advertising. Through its self-service, cloud-based platform, ad buyers can create, manage, and optimize digital advertising campaigns across ad formats and devices. Integrations with major data, inventory, and publisher partners ensure maximum reach and decisioning capabilities, and enterprise APIs enable custom development on top of the platform. Headquartered in Ventura, CA, The Trade Desk has offices across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit thetradedesk.com or follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to expectations concerning matters that (a) are not historical facts, (b) predict or forecast future events or results, or (c) embody assumptions that may prove to have been inaccurate, including statements relating to industry and market trends, the Company’s growth and financial targets, such as revenue and Adjusted EBITDA and the amount, timing and sources of funding for the Company’s share repurchase program. When words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “will,” “outlook” or similar expressions are used, the Company is making forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot give readers any assurance that such expectations will prove correct. These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those related to the Company’s relatively limited operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate the Company’s business and prospects, the market for programmatic advertising developing slower or differently than the Company’s expectations, the demands and expectations of clients and the ability to attract and retain clients. The actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. These are disclosed in the Company’s reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Form 10-K and any subsequent filings on Forms 10-Q or 8-K, available at www.sec.gov. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company does not intend to update any forward-looking statement contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date hereof.

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