In re The Trade Desk, Inc. Securities Litigation

BLB&G represents plaintiffs Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi (“MissPERS”), and Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System (“APERS”) in this securities class action brought on behalf of investors that purchased The Trade Desk Inc. (“Trade Desk” or the “Company”) common stock during the Class Period. The action asserts claims against Trade Desk and certain of its executives for violations of Sections 10(b), 20(a), and 20A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Trade Desk’s Alleged Fraud

Based in Ventura, California, Trade Desk operates as a technology company, offering a self-service, cloud-based, ad-buying platform that allows marketers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven ad campaigns. In June 2023, Trade Desk announced the rollout of Kokai, a generative AI forecasting tool that it claimed would enable users to more effectively deploy their advertising spending. Trade Desk described Kokai as the “most advanced product launch” in the Company’s history. As the Company began transitioning its clients from its older advertising platform Solimar to Kokai, Trade Desk assured investors that it expected “full adoption” of Kokai by existing Trade Desk customers “over the course of 2024.” Throughout the Class Period, defendants repeatedly touted the seamless transition to Kokai.

Unknown to the public, however, Defendants failed to disclose that Trade Desk was experiencing significant problems with the Kokai rollout, a substantial number of clients were not adopting the platform, and Kokai suffered from serious performance issues and product defects.

On February 12, 2025, investors began to learn the truth regarding the Kokai rollout execution challenges that Trade Desk had been facing. On that day, Trade Desk issued a press release announcing its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2024, missing revenue expectations for the first time in Trade Desk’s history. In the press release, Trade Desk’s CEO, explained that the Trade Desk rolled out Kokai “slower than we anticipated,” due to “execution missteps.” On this news, Trade Desk Class A common stock dropped $40.31 per share, or more than 30%, to a closing price of $81.92 per share on February 13, 2025.

Then, an exposé, published aftermarket hours on March 11, 2025, revealed that Trade Desk had not suffered from execution errors, but rather self-imposed critical failures in attracting and retaining customers to Kokai. Over the next forty-eight hours, the exposé became more widespread on social media. Trade Desk’s stock price dropped by 11%, to a closing price of $53.88 on March 13, 2025.

Finally, after the market closed on August 7, 2025, the Company admitted to slower-than-expected revenue growth. While the Company attempted to attribute the downturn to a multitude of reasons, analysts understood that the bearish results were, in large measure, due to the continued, slower-than-represented adoption of Kokai. Upon this disclosure, Trade Desk’s stock again plummeted, this time by nearly 40%, to a price of $54.23 on August 8, 2025.

On June 4, 2025, the Honorable Christina A Snyder appointed MissPERS and APERS as Lead Plaintiffs and BLB&G, along with another firm, as Lead Counsel. The Funds filed an Amended Complaint on August 15, 2025. Defendants’ motion to dismiss is due on October 14, 2025.