NEW YORK, March 6, 2026, 7:10 EST
Shares of Trade Desk surged about 18% around 6:52 a.m. EST Friday. The move came after news broke that OpenAI recently held early talks with the ad tech company over a possible partnership on ad sales.
The Trade Desk put out a Q1 revenue forecast of at least $678 million, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy investors. Reuters reported the stock fell 4.8% on Feb. 26, as competitive pressure from larger rivals mounted. The ad-tech firm posted $847 million in revenue for the fourth quarter and secured $2.9 billion heading into 2025. But the market focused on the cautious guidance, which triggered the sell-off.
OpenAI isn’t wasting time. As of February 9, ads began surfacing in ChatGPT for logged-in U.S. adults on the Free and Go plans, while paid tiers remain untouched by advertising. The company says these spots are always labeled, don’t touch answer quality, and are there to help fund broader access.
The Trade Desk offers brands and agencies a way to buy ad slots across digital platforms—think websites, mobile apps, even connected TVs—via automated auctions. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows Chief Executive Jeff Green acquired 6 million shares over March 2 to March 4, shelling out between $23.49 and $25.08 apiece on a weighted average basis. Altogether, Green spent roughly $148.1 million.
Green posted $2.9 billion in revenue for 2025, according to its February 25 earnings release. Executives pointed to “a backdrop of macro uncertainty” as they navigated the period. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter came in at about $195 million, falling short of Wall Street estimates, the filing shows. SEC
Some analysts flagged the OpenAI link as promising, but not without reservations. “Generative AI engines could be a significant source of incremental gross spend,” Mark Mahaney at Evercore ISI said. Over at D.A. Davidson, Tom White noted that direct, programmatic access for Trade Desk’s clients to ChatGPT ad inventory would be a clear positive. Investors
Criteo surged ahead on March 2, claiming it was the first ad-tech company to join OpenAI’s ChatGPT advertising pilot in the U.S. That suggests OpenAI is testing out multiple approaches as it seeks new sources of revenue; Reuters reported this week that OpenAI’s annualized revenue hit $25 billion as of last month.
Any upside could prove short-lived—or just underwhelming. As OpenAI’s help page spells out, ads and their controls currently reach only Free and Go users in the U.S. Barron’s noted The Trade Desk had no comment, and OpenAI stayed quiet, at least for now. If OpenAI sticks to building this in-house, the near-term payoff is shaping up to be less than traders first imagined.
