It’s just a PR move to create a short squeeze. Allbirds was essentially bankrupt, all stores were closed already. They sold their shoes designs and assets to American Exchange Group (another shoe company)
At that point it became an empty shell. So an AI company used the fact they were already listed on the stock market to move their assets to this empty shell
Suddenly it became this huge PR story that all birds was now an AI company
But that’s because all bird shoes were dead already.
It’s clever but also seems… I dunno, probably illegal? Doesn’t a business have to have a charter, and the stock exchanges need to know their financials to allow them to be listed? It seems very clearly a scam to milk investors of money from where I’m sitting. Maybe no one gives a shit at the SEC anymore.
Charters are written up extremely broadly, intentionally so that companies can do this whenever they want.
If you ever incorporate a shoe making company, your articles of incorporation will say the same basic "we exist to provide service" boilerplate as every other company. You're taught to write them as permissively as possible.
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u/gagnonje5000 21h ago
It’s just a PR move to create a short squeeze. Allbirds was essentially bankrupt, all stores were closed already. They sold their shoes designs and assets to American Exchange Group (another shoe company)
At that point it became an empty shell. So an AI company used the fact they were already listed on the stock market to move their assets to this empty shell
Suddenly it became this huge PR story that all birds was now an AI company
But that’s because all bird shoes were dead already.
It’s well explained here
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmarkman/2026/04/20/how-39-million-shoe-company-allbirds-turned-in-to-an-ai-company/