Before the final pair of Forage Green Men’s Tree Runners could even be loaded onto the moving truck, Allbirds announced yesterday it was pivoting from a sustainable shoe brand to an AI compute company (really). The pivot brought Allbirds’s stock back from the dead, boosting it to over $24 at its peak yesterday—an 876% jump from its sub-$3 close Tuesday.

The plan is simple…if its shareholders approve the idea next month, Allbirds said it has a deal to raise $50 million, change its name to NewBirdAI, and seek to “acquire high-performance, low-latency AI compute hardware and provide access under long-term lease arrangements.” So, the company is going to buy a ton of GPUs and rent them out to AI companies.

Will it work? Maybe…but Allbirds has virtually no experience in its new business. And that $50 million investment is chump change in the AI industry. For context, CoreWeave, an established company that provides cloud computing and infrastructure for AI companies, said it is spending as much as $35 billion to beef up its operations this year.

Not the first to pivot, not even the weirdest

It’s been a strange downfall for Silicon Valley’s favorite shoe: Allbirds was valued at $4 billion when it went public in 2021, but after opening up too many brick-and-mortar locations and rolling out poorly received products, the company’s valuation took a nosedive. Two weeks ago, Allbirds announced it was selling its assets to American Exchange Group, which owns the Ed Hardy and Aerosoles brands, for $39 million.

But it’s not the first company to try this hard pivot: Once, everyone pivoted to an internet company, then it was crypto. Now, companies are scrambling to cash in on the AI boom. Former crypto-mining companies have retooled their utility power contracts and facilities to score huge contracts with AI companies desperate to feed their power-hungry operations, and a former karaoke company almost decimated the trucking logistics industry after being reborn as an AI business.—MM

Live Nation illegally monopolized ticket sales, jury finds. In a victory for the states that pressed forward in the antitrust case against the Ticketmaster owner even as the Department of Justice settled, a federal jury found yesterday that Live Nation exercised an illegal monopoly over concert ticket sales. The verdict comes after a five-week trial accusing the company of overcharging ticket buyers. Now, the states will likely try to convince a judge to break up the company.

Snap to lay off 16% of its staff. Unfortunately for Snap’s workforce, the latest things to disappear at the social media company are jobs, as the company’s CEO told staff the layoffs would impact about 1,000 employees. The company also plans to close 300 open positions. Snap, which is facing investor pressure to be profitable, said that it was leveraging AI to boost productivity—with AI agents already writing 65% of its code. It expects the job cuts to save $500 million in the second half of the year, and the company’s stock rose nearly 8% following the announcement.

LIV Golf’s future is in doubt. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is on the verge of pulling its financial support from the league, and an announcement about the kingdom’s decision is coming as soon as today, the Financial Times reports. That would likely spell doom for the league that sought to challenge the PGA by luring away players with massive paydays. Saudi’s Public Investment Fund has invested about $5 billion in the tour, which has racked up more losses since its founding than a player who’s always over par. The FT said no final decision had been made as of yesterday, but the Telegraph reported that the league’s executives had been summoned to an emergency meeting. In an email obtained by ESPN, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil told staff that the season would go on “as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” though he did not address reports about the loss of funding or the future beyond this year.—AR

Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in one month, and President Trump has senioritis by proxy. “I’ll have to fire him, OK, if he’s not leaving on time…I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial,” Trump told Fox Business yesterday.

To clarify, Powell’s term as chair expires on May 15, but he can stay on as a Fed governor until 2028, which Trump doesn’t want.

Normally, chairs dip out once their time at the helm ends, but the Justice Department’s investigation into the Fed’s headquarters renovation is complicating matters:

• Powell has said he has “no intention” of vacating his Fed governor seat until the Trump administration’s probe is over.
• Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has also pledged to block Trump’s nominee for Powell’s replacement, Kevin Warsh, until the probe ends. Powell could stay on as interim Fed chair if Warsh isn’t confirmed in time.
• Meanwhile, Trump has signaled that he’d rather let Tillis block Warsh’s confirmation than drop the probe, which ramped up this week when US prosecutors stopped by the Fed’s construction site unannounced.

Looking ahead…Warsh’s confirmation hearing is set for Tuesday. The Supreme Court is also expected to rule as soon as tomorrow on the president’s power to remove Fed officials, after justices appeared skeptical of Trump’s case against Fed Gov. Lisa Cook.—ML

It’s news that you may want to inject into your veins. The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday it will convene a panel in July to discuss easing restrictions on seven peptides used in injections that are purported to build muscle, reduce inflammation, and improve skin.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been a vocal supporter of the treatments—he said he has used them to help recover from injuries—and has pledged to loosen regulations.

However, there’s been little research into many of the claims of peptides’ benefits. Most peptides, including the healing compound BPC-157, which is one of the seven to be considered, haven’t been evaluated by the FDA for safety.

Going gray

In 2023, the FDA removed 19 peptides from a list of drugs that compounding pharmacies were allowed to produce:

• That ban led to a gray market selling peptides labeled “research use only” to avoid federal oversight.
• People began treating themselves, but not in that fun Retta way. The unregulated market meant an inconsistent product, which Kennedy has called “substandard.” Incorrect dosage and contamination can lead to side effects, such as muscle paralysis and sepsis.

Looking ahead…the FDA’s current pharmacy panel has several vacancies that Kennedy could fill with peptide-friendly faces before the meeting. There will also be a second meeting to discuss bringing back five other peptides, but a date has not been set yet.—DL

Despite what your friend who rejects anything other than a single-origin pour over would have you believe, becoming a coffee expert isn’t easy—and that’s a problem for Wall Street. Starbucks may be on every corner, but coffee graders who evaluate quality for the commodities market are in short supply at the New York Stock Exchange because the test to become one is so tough, the Wall Street Journal reports:

• Aspiring graders must pass a three-stage test, and if they fail at any point, they must go back to square one. It includes a written portion on the rules, a three-hour grading test, and a final part months later that involves tasting coffee in front of proctors to detect defects.
• Only 5%–8% of test-takers pass. For comparison: 64% pass California’s famously tough bar exam.

And to even be allowed to take the test, which kicked off Monday for this year, applicants must have at least five years of experience in the coffee industry. Being a barista—no matter how hip—is not enough.—AR