Allbirds continues AI pivot with name change and CEO hire, sending stock soaring

Two months after its unexpected artificial intelligence rebrand, Allbirds is changing its name to Smartbird and appointing a new chief executive. The shoemaker-turned-AI infrastructure firm on Wednesday named Nadia Carlsten as CEO and board member, replacing current CEO Joe Vernachio. Carlsten previously served as CEO at the Danish Center for AI Innovation, an AI infrastructure company partnered with Nvidia and home to a supercomputer known as Gefion. Shares of BIRD soared 34% on Wednesday. Allbirds surprised investors in April with plans to shift from making shoes to AI compute infrastructure and hardware. At the time, the company rebranded to NewBird AI and its market cap surged sevenfold. A month earlier, the company sold its footwear assets to the brand management company American Exchange Group for $39 million. Allbirds is among the latest crop of companies pivoting to AI in a bid to capitalize on the burgeoning tech boom set off by ChatGPT's debut in late 2022. A day after Allbirds' rebrand, social media platform provider Myseum shifted to AI. Refocusing efforts on new tech trends isn't a new phenomenon on Wall Street. Several companies announced their own cryptocurrencies or pivoted to blockchain during the height of crypto mania. AI infrastructure company CoreWeave, which went public last year, started in crypto mining before a successful pivot to AI.