Allbirds abandons clothes, pivots to "AI compute infrastructure"

While Allbirds investors still need to officially approve the company’s new direction at a coming meeting, they seem excited about the move so far. As of this writing, Allbirds stock has jumped over 400 percent to about $13 in morning trading, surpassing its trailing 12-month highs. But those increases follow years of massive losses since the company’s late 2021 IPO, when the pandemic-era darling saw $500 stock prices and a $4.1 billion valuation.

Stockholders will also need to approve a corporate charter amendment to “remove references to the Company being operated for the environmental conservation public benefit,” according to SEC filings.

First as tragedy, then as farce

If the sudden Allbirds pivot sounds familiar, it might be because it recalls the days when the Long Island Iced Tea Corporation changed its name to Long Blockchain amid the 2017 mania for everything crypto-related. That company’s stock more than tripled in the wake of that frenzied move, though the SEC soon halted trading in the company after those loftily announced blockchain plans failed to materialize in any real way.

GameStop’s famously meme-worthy stock also saw a brief jump in 2022 when it teased plans for an NFT marketplace and crypto wallet. By the summer of 2023, though, the company was already winding down its crypto marketplace after expected NFT-based revenues failed to materialize.

It’s easy to see similar signs of a speculative bubble in Allbirds’ attempted AI pivot today. Keep in mind, though, that Bitcoin prices are currently roughly five times higher than they were when “Long Island Blockchain” was announced at the end of 2017 (amid much volatility in the interim). Is pouring investor money into the 2026 GPU market a better move than trying to revive a cratering fashion brand? We’ll check back in… 2035 or so.