The footwear company Allbirds has officially changed its name to Smartbird and announced the appointment of Nadia Karsten as its new Chief Executive Officer.
This marks the second name change in just a few months for the firm, which previously rebranded as NewBird AI in April as part of a complete pivot away from shoe manufacturing to focus on artificial intelligence computing infrastructure.
The company confirmed on Wednesday that Karsten will assume the roles of CEO and board member, succeeding the current CEO.
Karsten previously led the Amazon Web Services Quantum Computing Center, held a position at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and most recently served as CEO of DCAI, an AI infrastructure firm that recently partnered with Nvidia and operates a supercomputer named "Gefion."
Driven by this positive news, the share price of Allbirds, Inc. (BIRD) surged by 41.88% during Wednesday's trading session.
Initial Strategic Shift
In April of this year, Allbirds stunned the market with a radical strategic overhaul, announcing it would exit the footwear business entirely to pursue opportunities in AI compute infrastructure and hardware, at which point it was renamed NewBird AI.
That announcement followed the sale of its entire footwear business assets for $39 million to a brand management company one month prior, and the closure of all its full-price U.S. retail stores in February.
A Broader Trend of AI Pivots
Allbirds is part of a significant wave of companies attempting to capitalize on the AI boom that followed the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022.
Shortly after Allbirds announced its latest rebranding, social media platform Myseum also declared a full pivot into artificial intelligence operations.
Such strategic shifts toward hot technology trends are a familiar pattern on Wall Street, reminiscent of the cryptocurrency frenzy when numerous firms launched their own digital tokens or moved into blockchain.
AI infrastructure company CoreWeave, which went public last year, originally started as a cryptocurrency mining operation before successfully transitioning into the AI sector.
Company Background and Recent Challenges
Allbirds was founded in 2015 by former professional footballer Tim Brown and renewable materials expert Joey Zwillinger, with a mission to create sustainable footwear from natural materials.
Its first product launch in 2016 quickly made it a popular brand across the United States.
The company went public on the Nasdaq in 2021, with its share price jumping 90% on its first trading day, accompanied by rapid physical store expansion.
However, facing intensified competition and shifting consumer trends, the company's stock price plummeted from its all-time high of $577.80 in November 2021, incurring a cumulative loss of nearly 99%.
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