By Heather Gillers
Allbirds isn't the first firm to win big in the stock market with an artificial-intelligence pivot. AI announcements have already set off several stock-buying binges in 2026.
But a note to investors in the company known for its eco-friendly wool sneakers: Markets tend to sober up eventually.
Here's a look at some other famous pivots into the hot market trend of the moment.
Algorhythm Holdings
Stock in the former karaoke company more than tripled in the wake of a February news release about how its pivot to an AI logistics firm could cut down on empty-truck traffic and quadruple freight volumes. But shares are still hovering around a dollar, down close to 70% from that February peak and thousands of dollars less than what they traded for in the karaoke machine's 1990s glory days -- decades before it had changed to its current strategy.
Bitcoin Miners
Bitcoin mining companies have made one of the more successful pivots -- at least so far. Assets the crypto miners already have: data centers, cooling systems, land and hard-to-obtain contracts for electrical power can all be repurposed to train and power AI models. One mining CEO capitalizing on the shift called it "one of the greatest opportunities I could possibly imagine." The CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF is up 24% this year.
Long Blockchain
It wasn't so long ago that crypto was the trendy bandwagon companies wanted to jump on. Long Island Iced Tea hadn't posted a profit in five years when it abruptly changed its name to Long Blockchain in December 2017. Shares gained 183% the day the company said it would pivot to focusing on the cryptocurrency (while still selling tea). But the stock soon crashed, and in 2018 the Nasdaq Stock Market delisted the firm.
The Taser-maker reported in February that AI tools have driven over $750 million in new bookings, triggering a one-day stock gain of 18%. It didn't hold. The stock is down almost 30% year to date, and more than 50% from its closing high last summer. The long-term trend is better; the stock has more than doubled over the past five years.
Block
Shares of the payments company that includes Square and Cash App clocked a three-day spike of more than 15% after the firm said earlier this year it was laying off more than 4,000 employees and relying more on AI. Still, Block is up only 4.4% year-to-date and down about 75% from its 2021 highs.
Zapata
Patient zero for the digital pivot may be Zapata, co-founded in the 1950s by former President George H.W. Bush as an oil company. It moved into commercial fishing during the 1980s oil slump and diversified into natural gas and fish-protein, then sold off its energy assets and bought a sausage-casing company.
Over three months in 1998, the firm announced and then called off investments in 31 internet and web-shopping companies, as its Zap.com spinoff succumbed to one of the early cases of what The Wall Street Journal at the time dubbed "internet fever."
Write to Heather Gillers at heather.gillers@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 15, 2026 17:02 ET (21:02 GMT)
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