The tech industry often sees unexpected turns, but few are as dramatic as the recent shift by a prominent shoe brand. In a surprising move, Allbirds, known for its popular wool sneakers, has rebranded as NewBird AI and ventured into the realm of artificial intelligence.
On Wednesday, Allbirds became the focus of numerous social media jokes as it announced its pivot to AI. Shareholders, however, had reason to rejoice, with the company’s stock price soaring after it declared plans to offer GPU compute-as-a-service.
Here are some of the standout moments from social media:
As Ross Geller once yelled in a legendary ‘Friends’ episode: ‘PIVOT!’
Someone’s going shopping
With Allbirds shoes getting winded down, I’ve started buying hundreds of allbirds shoes for 50 cents on the dollar.
So far, I have amassed a portfolio of 15,000 Allbirds shoes.
Soon I will control the entire Allbirds market.
— Finance Guy (@GuyInFinance) April 15, 2026
Enter ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ memes
The name of the company… NewBird AI. It is a cutting-edge, AI-native cloud infrastructure firm out of- well, they used to be out of San Francisco making sneakers, but forget that, John- they are now awaiting imminent deployment of next-generation GPU compute clusters that have… pic.twitter.com/ArYT41hx8J
— Negligible Capital (@negligible_cap) April 15, 2026
Ouch
Well, what if?
Allbirds, established in 2015, gained rapid popularity with its wool sneaker, a favorite among Silicon Valley tech enthusiasts. Even former President Barack Obama was seen wearing them in 2020. The company’s initial stock market debut in 2021 saw its valuation skyrocket to $4 billion.
However, the brand’s fortunes reversed post-2022, with interest waning and sales declining. In 2023, Allbirds reported an annual loss of $101 million, and its shares fell by 47%.
Subsequent attempts to revitalize the brand, including new product launches, staffing cuts, and leadership changes, proved ineffective. In March, it was revealed that American Exchange Group would acquire Allbirds for $39 million.
Following the AI rebranding announcement, Allbirds’ stock surged by approximately 582%, although it experienced a 28% drop in after-hours trading.
