Allbirds made a surprising announcement Wednesday that it is pivoting from shoes to artificial intelligence. The move boosted shares of the miniscule market cap company — it was valued at about $21 million at Tuesday’s close — by 582%. The shares, which were under $3 a day ago, jumped to about $17. The company announced that it’s pivoting its business to AI compute infrastructure in a release posted to its investor relations page. The company, which according to the release will be called NewBird AI, announced a deal to raise up to $50 million in funding, expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. “The Company ... (full story)