Last year, the FTSE 250 firm took a hammering as investors fretted that AI chatbots would cannibilise the platform. Skip to March 2026: pre-tax profit has nearly tripled to £14.1m, revenue hit £261.1m (up 24%), and shares have climbed a third since January. Turns out the company didn’t just survive the AI threat—it weaponised it. Adrian Blair, the CEO, positioned Trustpilot not as a victim of the chatbot era, but as infrastructure for it. Let’s break it down.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Let’s look at the raw performance. For 2025, Trustpilot reported pre-tax profit of £14.1m—nearly triple the prior year’s result. Revenue climbed 24% to £261.1m on a reported basis, with management guiding for ‘high teens’ growth on a constant currency basis in 2026.
A company that spooked investors a year ago is now returning serious profits and flagging continued momentum. The market noticed: shares popped 19.6% to 210p on the Tuesday morning the numbers dropped. That’s the sound of a narrative shifting in real time.
How Trustpilot Became AI Infrastructure
Here’s the thing about Trustpilot’s AI risk: it was never really about the platform dying. It was about visibility. When ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) got trained on internet data, they inherited Trustpilot’s review library. The platform’s 170+ million reviews became raw material for AI answers.
Instead of fighting it, Blair’s team saw the angle. In their words, they’re now ‘helping drive’ the AI era by ‘integrating AI-powered innovation and optimising for large language models.’ Translation: they’re building tools so that Trustpilot reviews surface more prominently in LLM outputs. The platform becomes more visible *because* AI is proliferating, not less.
Mark Crouch, an analyst at eToro, framed it neatly: Trustpilot’s ‘early positioning in the AI ecosystem’ benefits from a ‘structural tailwind’—a rise in traffic from AI-driven search and prominence as a cited source. That’s a wind at your back most FTSE firms would kill for.
The Money Move
Companies don’t announce £22.5m share buybacks when they’re nervous about next quarter. Trustpilot just did. The buyback signals two things: first, management genuinely believes the profit story is sustainable; second, they’ve got enough cash flowing in to reward shareholders and fund growth.
The jury on long-term profitability remains out—tech companies can pivot on a dime, and moderation costs (combating AI-generated fake reviews) remain a headwind. But the buyback tells you that Blair and the team see the tailwind outpacing the headwind, at least for now.
The Bottom Line
Trustpilot’s 2025 numbers prove the AI threat thesis was backwards. Yes, chatbots can access the platform’s reviews. But instead of killing the platform, they’ve made it more essential. The company’s positioned as infrastructure for AI, not a victim of it. Revenue is growing at 24%, profits are tripling, and management is confident enough to commit £22.5m to buybacks. Watch this space—this story isn’t over.
FAQ
Why did Trustpilot shares fall so much in 2025?
Investors worried that AI chatbots would replace Trustpilot as a source of product reviews, making the platform obsolete. The share price more than halved amid fears AI would subsume its core business and that fake reviews generated by AI would erode credibility.
How is Trustpilot benefiting from AI instead of being harmed by it?
Trustpilot’s 170+ million reviews are valuable training data for LLMs, making the platform more visible in AI outputs. By optimising for how LLMs cite and use its data, Trustpilot has become infrastructure for the AI era rather than a competitor to it. The platform now benefits from increased traffic and prominence as AI-driven search grows.
What do the 2025 numbers tell us about the company’s future?
Pre-tax profit nearly tripled to £14.1m, revenue hit £261.1m (up 24%), and management expects high-teens growth in 2026. These figures suggest the AI pivot is paying off and that the profit story is durable enough for the company to commit £22.5m to share buybacks.
Is Trustpilot a long-term buy at these valuations?
Short answer: too early to say. The numbers are impressive, but tech companies can pivot quickly. Moderation costs (fighting AI-generated fake reviews) remain a structural headwind. The buyback signals confidence, but investors should monitor quarterly results to ensure the profit growth sustains.
What’s the biggest remaining risk to Trustpilot’s narrative?
Fake reviews, particularly AI-generated ones, could erode the platform’s credibility if moderation can’t keep pace with generation. Rising moderation costs could also squeeze margins. Additionally, if large language models eventually train on older, cached data rather than live web sources, the ‘structural tailwind’ could reverse.
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Effective Date: 15th July 2025
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