Allbirds, known as an eco-friendly sneaker brand, has abruptly shifted its focus to become an AI infrastructure company. On April 15, the company announced that it had signed a $50 million convertible financing agreement with institutional investors to secure high-performance GPUs and transition into an AI compute infrastructure business. It also plans to change its name to Newbird AI. According to the company's explanation, the strategy is to become a GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) provider by acquiring GPUs and leasing them on a long-term basis.
The market reaction bordered on overheating. According to Reuters, Allbirds' stock price surged 5,821 TP3T in a single day on the 15th. The intraday gain at one point reached 8,721 TP3T, and trading volume recorded $3.87 billion. Market capitalization swelled from around $21.7 million to nearly $148 million. In essence, the word "AI" itself drove the stock price up, rather than earnings or technological competitiveness.
The problem is that this company has already effectively liquidated its original business. On March 30, Allbirds announced that it would transfer its intellectual property rights, as well as some assets and liabilities, to the American Exchange Group for $39 million. At the time, the company stated that it would proceed with dissolution and liquidation procedures following the sale of assets, subject to shareholder approval. The transition to AI is less an extension of the existing shoe business and more akin to a shell of a publicly traded company superimposing a new narrative onto it.
Allbirds has submitted a proposal to shareholders to abandon its public interest corporation status and remove clauses related to environmental conservation from its articles of incorporation. The company explained that this is because its electronic infrastructure business does not align with such public objectives. Essentially, a brand once consumed as a symbol of Silicon Valley by championing sustainability is now shifting toward the power-intensive AI infrastructure business.
Therefore, this case is closer to a signal reflecting market sentiment than a company's renewed attempt. Reuters identified this trend as resembling the past dot-com and blockchain booms. While it is true that AI is a growth industry, the sight of value skyrocketing solely based on a declaration by a company lacking business experience is enough to fuel controversy over a bubble.
