Allbirds Aren’t Real

Allbirds Aren’t Real

From Slate Money by Slate Podcasts

April 18, 2026 · 47 min

About this episode

The episode discusses Allbirds' pivot into A.I. infrastructure, the S&P 500's record high, and a federal ruling against Live Nation and Ticketmaster for monopoly practices.

This week: Sneaker company Allbirds announced a pivot into A.I. infrastructure. Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck explain why this absurd-sounding venture is actually a pretty clever piece of financial engineering. Then, the hosts get into the market surge that put the S&P 500 at a record high. And finally, the courts confirmed what we all knew: Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster are screwing everyone over. The hosts discuss what led to the federal jury ruling that the concert behemoth was acting as a monopoly.   In the Slate Plus episode: The con behind SantaCon. Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify . Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Hosts: Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, Emily Peck

Topics covered

  • Allbirds
  • A.I. infrastructure
  • S&P 500
  • market surge
  • Live Nation
  • Ticketmaster
  • monopoly

Keywords

  • Allbirds
  • A.I. infrastructure
  • S&P 500
  • Live Nation
  • Ticketmaster
  • monopoly
  • SantaCon
  • financial engineering

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Allbirds, S&P 500, Live Nation, Ticketmaster

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