- Allbirds on Wednesday rebranded to Smartbird and announced Nadia Carlsten as its new CEO.
- In April, the company changed its name to NewBird AI and shifted from making shoes to Ai compute infrastructure.
- Social media platform provider Myseum also recently pivoted to AI.
Carlsten previously led
Amazon Web Services' quantum computing center and worked at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Most recently, she was CEO at DCAI, an AI infrastructure company that recently partnered with Nvidia and is 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.
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.
Former professional soccer player Tim Brown and renewable resources expert Joey Zwillinger founded Allbirds in 2015, seeking to build sustainable shoes from natural materials. The company launched its debut shoe a year later and quickly transformed into a
household name.
In 2021, Allbirds went public on the Nasdaq
surging 90% in its market debut. The company also rapidly expanded its brick-and-mortar footprint.
Over the years, shares have slumped nearly 99% from a November 2021 high of $577.80 due to mounting competition and slowing trends.
<small>Source: CNBC</small>
Business
Allbirds continues AI pivot with name change and CEO hire, sending stock soaring
CNBC
June 17, 2026
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