Sneaker Brand AllBirds Pivots To AI, Causing Stock To Skyrocket…. Then Tumble
The hype around footwear brand Allbirds not only hit a screeching halt but also took a sharp fall.
Black News 
The hype around footwear brand Allbirds not only hit a screeching halt but also took a sharp fall.
The company that was once known for its simple sneakers, a staple for everyone from eco-conscious tech bros to President Obama, reached peak popularity in 2020 and is now pivoting.
And not pivoting to other types of footwear or moving into the athleisure space, but to a business model with no tangible product at all. Allbirds is now an AI company.
It started by selling the Allbirds brand and footwear assets to American Exchange Group for $39 million, “which intends to continue to build on Allbirds’ legacy and deliver compelling products to Allbirds’ customers.”
But via an additional $50 million investment, it plans to “pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure, with a long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider.”
It all culminates in a name change to “NewBird AI” and using that $50 million to “acquire high-performance GPU assets.”
The press release argues that the sudden rise of AI in the past few years has outpaced what companies have been able to deliver, and Allbirds’ AI pivot thinks it can help be the latest company to guide the still-nascent AI world into the future.
“The Company will initially seek to acquire high-performance, low-latency AI compute hardware and provide access under long-term lease arrangements, meeting customer demand that spot markets and hyperscalers are unable to reliably service,” the press release reads.
The news led to Allbirds’ stock soaring 600% on Wednesday, but by Thursday afternoon, shares were down around 30%.
So if affordable wool sneakers are still in your rotations, you’ll still be able to buy them via AEG, which is home to other brands like Aerosoles, Ecko, Ed Hardy, Jonathan Adler, and XOXO.
As for what the pivot will yield, well, we just have to wait and see.
See how social media is reacting to the pivot below.
