Dive Brief:

• The ad tech company Trade Desk announced Monday that the “employment of the company’s chief financial officer,” Alexander Kayyal was “terminated",”  effective Jan. 24, although it expects Kayyal to remain on its board of directors through its 2026 annual stockholder meeting, according to a securities filing.
• The Ventura, California-based company named Tahnil Davis, 55, as its interim CFO. Davis is an 11-year company veteran and currently serves as its chief accounting officer, with her appointment as interim also effective Monday, according to a release. She takes the role as the company searches for a permanent successor to Kayyal. 
• The company’s shares closed Tuesday at $36.55, down about 12% from Friday’s close before this week’s news. The move comes roughly five months after Kayyal was named the company’s new finance chief, replacing Laura Schenkein, who had served in the role since June of 2023, according to an earlier release and securities filing, respectively.

Dive Insight:

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the reasons for the termination. 

Prior to joining Trade Desk, Kayyal, 41, was also on the company’s board beginning in February of 2025 and had served as a general partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, a global capital firm, according to an August filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He holds an MBA from Harvard and his prior experience also included various executive roles at the customer relationship management giant Salesforce from June 2021 to February 2023.

Under his employment agreement, he was to receive a base salary of $600,000 as CFO for Trade Desk, a signing bonus of $600,000 and a relocation benefit of $400,000.  

In its Monday release, the company cited Davis’ deep roots in the company and noted she has played a key role building the company’s financial and operational infrastructure. 

“Tahnil is an exceptionally strong operator and leader who understands our business inside and out,” said Jeff Green, the Trade Desk’s CEO and co-founder. “Her combination of financial rigor, strategic insight, and hands-on execution has been instrumental in helping us build a finance organization that can support our next phase of growth.”

Under an employment agreement reflecting the interim appointment, Davis will earn a base salary of $567,000 with a target annual bonus prorated in the annual amount of $267,500 for the period from Jan. 1 through Jan. 22, and $567,000 from Jan. 23 through Dec. 31, according to the Monday filing. She will also receive a $187,5000 prorated quarterly retention bonus for each calendar quarter she serves as interim CFO and the three-month period after a permanent successor is found. 

In addition to the leadership changes, the company on Monday reaffirmed its Q4 2025 guidance. It also noted it has not provided guidance for GAAP net income, because it’s not available without “unreasonable efforts” due to the variability and complexity of charges included in the calculation related to stock-based compensation, tax-related items and other non-recurring items not related to operating performance. 

“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,” Trade Desk said in the release. 

For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the company reported an 18% year-over-year jump in revenue to $739 million, while GAAP net income rose 16% to $116 million.