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By Allison Morrow, CNN

New York (CNN) — Shares of Allbirds — the 2010s pioneer of trendy sneakers and eco-conscious Millennial retail marketing — took flight in an almost comical fashion Wednesday morning after the company announced an extremely 2026 pivot: abandoning its environmental agenda and getting into the AI business.

The stock, which had largely been in the gutter since a November 2021 peak that valued the company at $4 billion, shot up more than 600% in early trading Wednesday. The catalyst came from Allbirds’ announcement that the company, after selling its footwear assets and branding to brand management company American Exchange Group last month for just $39 million, would soon reemerge as a new entity with a focus on “AI compute infrastructure.”

Allbirds remains a shell of its former self: Its market value was $165 million midday Wednesday.

Allbirds’ wool-based sneakers quickly became a Silicon Valley wardrobe staple when the shoe line launched in 2016. The brand, like eyewear-maker Warby Parker and luggage-maker Away, became part of a stable of buzzy, venture capital-backed retailers that marketed and sold their wares directly to consumers.

But Allbirds stumbled as it grew rapidly. While it opened stores around the world, most of them didn’t move enough inventory to be profitable.

“Allbirds has gone from being a highflyer to a dead parrot,” GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders said in a note last month as the company was nearing a deal with American Exchange.

The reason for the lack of traction, Saunders wrote, was that Allbirds’ sustainability pitch “has never been a key consideration for most footwear consumers,” who are more concerned about style, price and comfort.

Allbirds, which will be renamed “NewBird AI,” said it executed a $50 million deal with an unnamed institutional investor to acquire “high-performance GPU assets” to begin transitioning into a “fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service” — essentially a company that rents out computing power to tech startups.

That’s not all that’s changing from Allbirds’ core mission. As part of the transition, the company disclosed in a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission that NewBird AI would be less focused on environmental conservation. As such, as part of a shareholder vote next month, it is asking for approval of a charter amendment to remove references to the company operating in service of that public benefit.

The-CNN-Wire
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By Eric Bradner, CNN

Notre Dame, Indiana (CNN) — At one of the United States’ best-known Catholic institutions, students were siding with Pope Leo XIV over President Donald Trump in the wake of Trump’s clash with the pontiff over the Iran war and raising concerns about his recent social media post seemingly depicting himself as Jesus.

“I found it incredibly disrespectful — especially the AI image of him portraying himself as Jesus,” said Sarah Jones, an undergraduate student from North Carolina who considers herself a moderate independent.

Jones said it was “weird” that Trump deleted the post and claimed he thought the image portrayed him as a doctor. Even stranger, she said, was Trump targeting Pope Leo “just for being for peace.” Just weeks ago, Jones noted, the president had praised Notre Dame as he mourned the Catholic university’s legendary football coach, Lou Holtz, who was an outspoken Trump supporter.

“It’s a complete 180,” she said. “What is going on in your head that would make you say these things, or like, do any of this?”

Trump has clashed in recent days with Pope Leo who has become increasingly vocal in criticizing the administration’s approach to the war with Iran — bringing bipartisan condemnation in the United States and even prompting Iran to come to the pontiff’s defense. Similarly, in more than a dozen interviews on Notre Dame’s campus this week, Catholics in both parties expressed surprise and dismay at seeing the president treat the pope like a political rival.

The feud began on Sunday when Trump called Leo “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy,” and took credit for Leo’s selection as the first American pontiff.

“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician,” he wrote on social media.

The pope responded that he had “no fear of the Trump administration” and said he would continue to advocate for peace.

A key voting bloc

Catholics make up perhaps the largest swing voting bloc in the country, comprising between one-fourth and one-fifth of the electorate in recent presidential elections.

Trump won 59% of Catholics, compared to 39% for former Vice President Kamala Harris, in the 2024 presidential election, CNN’s exit poll found. It was a huge shift from former President Joe Biden — himself a Catholic — narrowly winning Catholics, 52% to Trump’s 47%, in the 2020 election, according to CNN’s exit poll.

Catholics are a large share of the electorate in two presidential swing states, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. And they are also a pivotal group in some battleground congressional districts — particularly Latino-heavy districts throughout the Southwest that will play an important role in determining whether Republicans can hold onto their slim majority in November’s midterm elections.

Broadly, many Catholics have taken issue with Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement he was “disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father.”

“Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls,” Coakley said.

Notre Dame’s president, Rev. Robert A. Dowd, issued a statement Monday in s

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