Shares in shoe brand Allbirds, once seen on the feet of famous people like actor Ben Affleck and former US President Barack Obama, soared on Wednesday after it announced plans to pivot from footwear to artificial intelligence (AI).
The San Francisco-based firm said it has struck a $50m (£37m) deal to become an "AI compute infrastructure" business and change its name to NewBird AI.
The announcement sent the firm's shares surging by more than 580%, though its stock market value is still more than 90% lower than when the company was first listed in 2021.
Allbirds' trainers became popular among technology workers in Silicon Valley but the company faced serious challenges in recent years.
NewBird AI will buy advanced graphic processing units (GPUs) - computer chips that power AI, Allbirds said in a statement.
