Allbirds stock takes flight after announcing new CEO and name change

Allbirds is clipping its wings - again.

The San Francisco company announced Wednesday it will be changing its name to Smartbird and naming a new chief executive to lead its pivot from an eco-friendly shoe company to an AI startup.

The company named Nadia Carlsten as its new CEO, replacing Joe Vernachio, who was named CEO in 2024. Carlsten was previously the CEO of AI company DCAI, where she forged a partnership with chipmaker giant Nvidia to launch an AI supercomputer.

It's the second name change since April for the company, which was once a fixture of Silicon Valley (it was previously named Newbird).

"Smartbird is entering the market at a pivotal moment in the evolution of AI infrastructure," said Carlsten in a statement. "With a differentiated strategy, significant capital, and the opportunity to build an exceptional team, we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on one of the most significant infrastructure opportunities of the next decade."

In April, Allbirds sold its shoe business and physical assets for $39 million to the American Exchange Group to change its focus to AI. It announced it would be changing its business model to buy, sell and maintain servers equipped with AI to be rented out to other tech companies.

When Allbirds went public in 2021, it was valued at $4 billion and attracted many investors, including actor Leonardo DiCaprio, with its shoe model made from wool and eucalyptus. In the years following, it struggled to continue the hype.

Allbirds was started in 2007 by former pro football player Tim Brown in 2007 as a direct-to-consumer brand before changing to sell product in retail stores and expanding from sneakers to other clothing items such as flip-flops and leggings.

Despite many efforts to turn a profit, sales depleted and the company reported a net loss of $101 million in 2022.

Earlier this year, Allbirds closed all of their Los Angeles retail locations.

Allbirds also announced Lily Yan Hughes as its board chair. Hughes previously served as an independent director.

"We are thrilled to usher in this new era of the company with Nadia at the helm. Her groundbreaking work and visionary mindset will be instrumental in establishing a foothold in the market and building a scalable long-term solution for enterprise customers," said Hughes. "The board selected Nadia because of the breadth of her experience and demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale."

Allbirds' shares skyrocketed after the announcement, closing up nearly 40% Wednesday at $5.48.

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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 2:26 PM.