Dive Brief:

• Advertising technology platform The Trade Desk announced that board member Alex Kayyal will take the company’s CFO seat beginning Aug. 21, replacing long-time company alum Laura Schenkein, according to a Thursday press release. The Ventura, California-based business, which enables companies to launch ad campaigns, tapped Kayyal as CFO “to drive sustained growth and scale for the company,” according to the Thursday release.
• Schenkein will depart after more than a decade-long tenure at the digital marketing platform. She first joined as its director, financial planning & analysis, and assumed the CFO post in June 2023, according to her LinkedIn profile. Schenkein will remain with The Trade Desk as a non-executive officer through the end of this year, and will work with Kayyal to enable a “seamless transition of responsibilities,” the company said Thursday.  
• “I'm proud of what we've accomplished together from our early days as a start-up to going public to joining the S&P 500,” Schenkein said Thursday during the company’s most recent earnings call of her 11-year tenure with the business, which went public in September 2016.

Dive Insight:

Kayyal joined the company’s board in February, and has served as a partner for Lightspeed Venture Partners since February 2023, according to a securities filing. His past experience also includes a seven-year term at software company Salesforce, where he held roles including SVP and managing partner, Salesforce Ventures, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In association with his appointment as CFO, Kayyal has resigned as a member of the special committee of the board, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As CFO, Kayyal is set to receive an annual base salary of $600,000 and a signing bonus of $600,000, as well as a relocation benefit of $400,000, according to the filing. He will also be set to receive an initial target bonus of $600,000, as well as a grant of restricted stock awards with an aggregate equity amount of $15 million.

“I met Alex in 2014 when [he] was one of the company's earliest investors,” Schenkein said Thursday during the company’s earnings call. “He is respected and I have confidence in him as he takes on this new role.”

Shares of the company plunged by roughly 37% Friday, according to Nasdaq, following its second quarter earnings report, amid tariff uncertainty and a possible pullback on ad spending by large firms. Company executive leaders are monitoring how shifts in U.S. trade policy and other economic risks may influence company performance.

“Assuming the macro environment remains stable and we don't see disruptions from large global brands, which make up a significant portion of our business due to tariff uncertainty, we expect Q3 revenue to be at least $717 million,” Schenkein said Thursday.

The Trade Desk is also facing increasing competition in the online advertising space from companies such as Amazon — which reported a 23% boost in ad revenue to $15.7 billion for its most recent quarter last week, according to a Friday report by CNBC.  

While “some of the world's largest brands are absolutely facing pressure and some amount of uncertainty,” including tariffs, uncertainty is also “an opportunity for us to grab land,” CEO and Founder Jeff Green said Thursday in response to an analyst question.

For the quarter ended June 30, The Trade Desk reported a 19% year-over-year jump in revenue to $694 million, according to its earnings report. Its net income rose to $90 million, compared to $85 million for the prior year period.

Both Green and Schenkein also highlighted particularly robust growth in the company’s “Connected TV” or CTV advertising offerings, a form of advertising for streaming or over-the-top (OTT) devices. The area remains The Trade Desk’s fastest growing channel. During the second quarter, video, which includes CTV, represented “a high 40s percentage share of our business and continues to grow as a percentage of our mix,” Schenkein said.  

In addition to tariffs, Green pointed to other trends that may influence performance, including artificial intelligence and increasing use of “walled gardens,” or closed systems in the online advertising space.

“The digital advertising landscape is evolving rapidly with ongoing regulatory scrutiny of walled gardens, the rise of AI and growing demand for transparency and independence,” Green said. “We believe the next decade will be pivotal in determining the winners and losers in our space, and that staying true to our long-term vision is more important now than ever.”

The Trade Desk declined to comment beyond the press release.