Allbirds’ stock popped more than 800% on Wednesday after the company announced plans to sell its footwear business and refocus as an AI infrastructure provider, backed by a $50 million convertible financing facility.
The company confirmed it is moving forward with a previously disclosed sale of its footwear and brand assets to American Exchange Group. If the transaction closes, Allbirds says it will concentrate on GPU-based compute services and cloud infrastructure for AI, with plans to operate as a GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) provider and potentially rename the business “NewBird AI.”
Both the financing and the asset sale are subject to shareholder approval. A special meeting of shareholders is scheduled for May 18, 2026, and the company has also proposed a special shareholder dividend in the third quarter of 2026 that would be contingent on approval of the asset sale. The restructuring is intended to separate the legacy consumer footwear brand from the new AI infrastructure company.
Proceeds from the $50 million facility will be used to acquire high-performance GPUs to meet growing demand for AI compute. Allbirds cited tightening global GPU supply and rising enterprise AI adoption as drivers for immediate capacity needs, and said it plans to scale the offering over time into a broader AI cloud platform.
The move follows years of financial strain in the footwear division. Allbirds’ consumer business experienced declining sales and mounting losses: revenue fell 23% year over year in Q3 2025, and the company reported cumulative losses of $419 million over five years despite reaching roughly $1.2 billion in lifetime sales. The public stock has slipped about 95% from its 2021 peak, and the firm previously faced Nasdaq delisting concerns.
Executives and analysts have pointed to expansion beyond the brand’s core wool sneaker line into apparel and other categories as a factor that diluted Allbirds’ identity. By early 2026 the company had closed nearly all full-price U.S. retail locations, maintaining only two stores and shifting more of its business toward e-commerce.
Leadership changes have accompanied the strategic reset. Co-CEO Joey Zwillinger departed amid the company’s restructuring, part of wider management turnover after rapid post-IPO expansion strained the sustainability-focused brand.
Allbirds’ plan to leap from footwear to AI infrastructure is an abrupt pivot that will require shareholder support and successful execution to turn the company into a viable GPU cloud provider. The proposed timeline hinges on the May 18 vote and the closing of the asset sale.
Edited by Vivian Nguyen. For details on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.