Trade Desk Lands OpenAI As Customer? Report Of Early Ad Sales Talks Sends Battered Stock Flying

• TTD shares rose 9.3% in Wednesday’s after-market session; ad-tech peer AppLovin’s stock also rose.
• Retail traders forecast a sharp rally in TTD stock, which faces the risk of being dropped from the S&P 500 if the deal fructifies.
• OpenAI is also reportedly in talks with other brands, media agencies, and ad tech firms as part of the early ads pilot.

OpenAI has held early talks with The Trade Desk to sell ads, and has projected that they could help double consumer ChatGPT revenue this year to $17 billion, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.

The Trade Desk shares jumped 9.3% in the extended trading session on the report. That comes as a reprieve after the recent software selloff piled further pressure on an already sluggish stock. TTD is down roughly 37% year-to-date as of the last close.

TTD was among the top 10 trending tickers on Stocktwits late Wednesday, although the retail sentiment shifted lower to ‘bullish’ from ‘extremely bullish.’ Shares of ad tech peer AppLovin also jumped in 1.6% after The Information report.

Retail’s View On TTD

“Sounds like a goldmine to me,” a user said, referring to the potential deal with OpenAI, and forecast the stock rising to $300.

Some users also warned of risks. Given the company’s declining market capitalization, some fear it may be removed from the S&P 500 index. “Board is awful bullish for a stock that is a quarter percent away from being the worst performer in the S&P500 in 2026,” said a user. 

A company must have a market capitalization of at least $22.7 billion to remain in the benchmark index. The Trade Desk dipped below that last September and currently has a market capitalization of $12.2 billion.

Traders also said that a short squeeze could happen in the company days, given the nearly 10% short interest in the stock, per Koyfi. A short squeeze is a rapid spike in a stock’s price caused when investors who bet against it (short sellers) rush to buy shares to cover their positions, driving the price even higher.

OpenAI’s Ad Push

For OpenAI, which launched ads in ChatGPT in early February, the potential tie-up with The Trade Desk would be a major step in its ad strategy. The Information reported that the AI company plans to initially lean on external partners to help it sell ads and quickly ramp up its business.

The Trade Desk offers an automated platform for advertisers to place ads at scale, along with technology to target ads and measure their performance. OpenAI has roughly 910 million users and plans to generate $17 billion in revenue from targeting ads to them.

OpenAI is also reportedly in talks with other brands, media agencies, and ad tech firms as part of the early ads pilot, according to the report.

Trade Desk Platform News

On Wednesday, The Trade Desk unveiled OpenTTD, a platform designed to give advertisers centralized access to data solutions across the company’s ecosystem, including UID2 and OpenPath. The initiative underscores The Trade Desk’s push to position its offerings as an open, interoperable infrastructure layer for the digital advertising industry.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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