The San Francisco-based shoe brand Allbirds is jumping on the AI bandwagon, moving away from footwear assets to AI compute infrastructure. A definitive agreement was reached on Wednesday after striking a US$50m deal.
The move follows Allbirds’ prior announcement of selling the brand to fashion conglomerate American Exchange Group. This US$39m deal was announced back in March.
The latter intends to continue building on Allbirds’ legacy, shaped by high-profile customers like former US President Barack Obama, actors Ben Affleck and Leonardo DiCaprio, who have been seen wearing the shoes.
Shares peak to over 500%
To facilitate the pivot, the company plans to close during the second quarter of 2026. Following this, Allbirds will also change its name to “NewBird AI”.
The recent announcement sent the firm’s shares on a bullish high, taking it up over 580% on Wednesday. These levels were last seen in 2024, with the shares struggling of late.
However, at the time of writing, the shares seem to have come down by about 35% since the announcement yesterday. The stock market value is also more than 90% lower than when the company was first listed in 2021.
