The soaring share price of the established shoe company Allbirds after its surprising turn to the artificial intelligence (AI) business is running out of steam. The stock fell more than 35 percent on Thursday after previously rising around seven times.
Allbirds was once a popular shoe brand in tech circles that originally started in New Zealand. After the IPO in 2021, Allbirds was temporarily worth around four billion US dollars – but a few weeks ago the business was valued at less than 40 million dollars and was about to end.
A new start as an AI specialist?
But then the company suddenly announced a new beginning as a provider of infrastructure for artificial intelligence under the name NewBird AI. A previously unnamed investor announced that they would invest up to $50 million in the company. The price then temporarily jumped from around $3 to around $21. On Thursday it fell back to the ten dollar mark.
Analysts attributed the increase, among other things, to the fact that investors tend to jump on anything that has to do with AI. The development is reminiscent of the situation a few years ago, when it was enough to announce something involving digital currencies like Bitcoin for price increases. Gene Munster from Deepwater Asset Management told the financial service Bloomberg that even if the Allbirds announcement lacked substance, investors’ enthusiasm and potential were enough. In addition, the plans have a “healthy dose of absurdity”
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