By Purvi Agarwal and Anshuman Tripathy
April 16 (Reuters) - Sneaker company Allbirds' pivot to AI computing has revived a Wall Street trend in recent years: smaller companies leaning into tech-focused transformations to win over AI-hungry investors.
Allbirds' shares surged more than six-fold after it announced rebranding itself NewBird AI. It was soon followed by social media firm Myseum, which soared almost 150% after adding "AI" to its name.
As investor appetite for technology continues to reshape
businesses, here's a look at some of the notable pivots by U.S. companies to cash in on the euphoria:
STRATEGY:
Starting off as a software company that helped analyze financial data, Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy transformed into one of the biggest corporate hoarders of bitcoin in 2021 and later rebranded to Strategy.
The stock saw its biggest yearly jumps in 2023 and 2024, with gains of over 300% in each year, as bitcoin doubled in value. The stock was last down over 70% from its all-time high set in November 2024.
CRYPTO MINING TO AI INFRASTRUCTURE:
CoreWeave was originally an ethereum miner founded in 2017, but shut its mining business a few years later. It debuted on the Nasdaq in April 2025 as a cloud infrastructure company valued at $23 billion, and surged over 85% in the year. The firm is up 64% so far in 2026.
Applied Blockchain and HUT 8 both started out as crypto miners, but have been shifting to focus on hosting data centers. The former established itself as Applied Digital early in 2023, while Hut 8 is expanding its data center business.
Growth in Applied Digital's stock has largely been muted for the last few years, but Hut 8 has posted gains every year since 2023, thanks to both bitcoin prices and demand for data centers.
After emerging from bankruptcy in January 2024, Core Scientific jumped on the AI bandwagon, partnering with CoreWeave to provide infrastructure that it already used for bitcoin mining. Its shareholders rejected an acquisition offer from CoreWeave last year.
TRUMP MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
Trump Media & Technology, owned largely by U.S. President Donald Trump, was originally a social media firm - parent of the 'Truth Social' platform.
It started expanding into digital finance last year with the creation of a bitcoin treasury, a new venture with Crypto.com via a blank-check acquisition company.
The stock had one of its biggest daily jumps in December 2025 when it was considering spinning off the platform into a publicly traded company.
However, it more than halved in value in 2025 despite the appeal of digital token treasuries attracting investor interest.
DOMINARI HOLDINGS
Initially started as Alkido Pharma, the company revamped into Dominari Holdings in December 2022, aiming to diversify away from the healthcare sector to the finance sector.
It later created American Data Centers - whose members included Trump's sons - Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump - amid high demand for high-performance computing infrastructure.
ALGORHYTHM HOLDINGS, ALT5 SIGMA:
The Singing Machine Company, which sold karaoke products, announced in September 2024 that it had acquired SemiCab, an AI logistics company and transformed itself into Algorhythm Holdings.
The stock plunged over 37% that month, but had jumped over 42% in August 2024. The firm completed the sale of its legacy karaoke business in August 2025 for $4.5 million.
Algorhythm Holdings logged yearly losses in both 2024 and 2025, and is flat so far this year.
JanOne sold its legacy Arca recycling business in March 2023 to focus on its growing biopharma business, but cashed in on the crypto craze with ALT 5 Sigma's acquisition in 2024. The stock surged over eight-fold that year, its best on record.
ALT 5 Sigma has been buying tokens in Trump's World Liberty Financial, but has struggled with wavering investor appetite for cryptocurrency buyers.
RIOT BLOCKCHAIN:
Diagnostic equipment maker Bioptix announced in October 2017 it was rebranding itself into Riot Blockchain - a blockchain investor and operator, back when cryptocurrency had emerged as a new technology.
It surged over five-fold in the three months following the announcement, closing 2017 with a more than 730% jump, the company's second-biggest yearly jump on record. The firm now operates as Riot Platforms
LONG BLOCKCHAIN:
Long Island Iced Tea's shares nearly tripled when it became another trend chaser, shifting its focus from iced tea to blockchain and revamping itself to Long Blockchain Corp in December 2017.
The company sold off its legacy beverages assets in 2019, a few months after it received a delisting notice from Nasdaq.
EASTMAN KODAK:
While not a complete pivot, Eastman Kodak jumped on the crypto bandwagon in January 2018 after launching its cryptocurrency "KODAKCoin" for photographers. The company is still known for the imaging and camera business.
Shares of the photography giant skyrocketed 156% that month, making it the second-biggest monthly jump in the history of the company.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
