The latest earnings cycle in ad tech and digital media was effectively telegraphed before a single quarterly call began. Liftoff Mobile’s decision to postpone its planned initial public offering on the Nasdaq crystallized a shift in Wall Street’s mindset: it won’t reward growth at any cost, particularly when it comes with heavy AI investment.
The company cited “market conditions” after a sharp selloff across software stocks, with more than $800 billion wiped from the S&P 500 software and services index since late January. That retrenchment followed earnings from Alphabet and Amazon, which, while showing sizeable revenue gains, unnerved investors about the scale of capital expenditure required to fund AI infrastructure. The reaction underscored a broader re-rating: top-line growth alone was insufficient if accompanied by margin pressure and escalating compute costs.
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