Allbirds is abandoning sneakers to become an AI computing company, rebranding as NewBird AI, sending its stock up 400%+

Allbirds announced it is pivoting away from footwear entirely to focus on AI computing infrastructure, signing a $50M convertible financing agreement to acquire GPUs and planning to rebrand as NewBird AI, with shares surging more than 400% on the news. The move comes after Allbirds sold its brand and footwear assets to American Exchange Group for $39M last month following a prolonged collapse that wiped roughly 99% of its market value since its 2021 Nasdaq debut at a $3B valuation. Analysts are skeptical, with one retail consultant saying the pivot looks like an attempt to capitalize on AI enthusiasm with nothing to differentiate it beyond name recognition, drawing comparisons to Long Island Iced Tea Corp's 2017 rebrand to Long Blockchain.