Shares of Allbirds — now officially rebranded as Smartbird (BIRD) — slid 9.1% to $3.14 on July 10 with no fresh catalyst in sight, continuing a punishing slide from the meme-fueled heights of April. The stock that once traded at $2.49 before an AI-pivot announcement and rocketed to an intraday high of $24.30 is now back in the gravitational pull of its pre-spike range, raising a blunt question: Was the rally ever about fundamentals, or was it pure narrative?
A Shoe Company Reborn as an AI Play — on $50 Million
On April 15, Allbirds announced a $50 million convertible financing deal to pivot into AI compute infrastructure — renting out high-powered chips to companies that need them — after selling its entire footwear brand to American Exchange Group.
Analysts widely dismissed the move; William Blair called it a "Hail Mary," noting that $50 million is a rounding error against a multi-billion-dollar cloud market dominated by Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
The 600% Spike Was Fueled by Thin Trading, Not Deep Conviction
On announcement day, 275 million shares changed hands — more than 50 times the typical daily average — sending the market cap to $148 million amid multiple trading halts.
Thin volume exaggerated modest buying pressure, and social media amplified the "phoenix" narrative. That kind of volatility cuts both ways: at $3.14 today, nearly all of the April gains have evaporated, punishing latecomers.
New CEO, Same Existential Questions
In June, the company changed its name again — to Smartbird — and hired Nadia Carlsten, a former Amazon Web Services quantum computing executive, as CEO. The hire adds operational credibility, but trailing twelve-month revenue stands at just $152.5 million with a net loss of $77.3 million — all from a shoe business that no longer exists. The next earnings report, scheduled for August 12 , will be the first to show what the new entity actually looks like financially.
Short Sellers Are Circling, and the Cash Clock Is Ticking
Short interest sits at roughly 998,500 shares, or about 17.1% of the float — a sign that professional skeptics are betting the decline continues. With operating cash flow at negative $55 million and only the convertible facility to fund GPU purchases, every quarter without paying customers burns through Smartbird's thin lifeline. Shareholders who rode the April euphoria are now holding a micro-cap AI startup priced like one — and the burden of proof sits squarely on the company.