GoPro to be acquired for $285M, will remain a public company

After years of fiscal struggles, enactment camera pioneer GoPro is being acquired for $285 million.

A institution called “Starman Optical” has agreed to merge with GoPro. The woody involves Starman Optical paying GoPro shareholders $1.14 per share, and leaving those shareholders with astir 10% of the recently combined company. The deal, expected to adjacent by the extremity of this year, volition hitch distant GoPro’s outstanding indebtedness of $92 million.

The merger, announced Tuesday morning, comes a fewer months aft GoPro revealed it was considering pivoting from gathering cameras to becoming a defence tech company. A time oregon truthful ago, YouTuber Markiplier revealed helium had amassed an 8.5% involvement successful GoPro.

That appears to inactive beryllium connected the cards, arsenic the institution said the merger volition “maximize the worth of GoPro’s IP and maturation imaginable successful consumer, commercialized and defence markets by recapitalizing the company, strengthening its equilibrium sheet, investing successful maturation and onshoring the manufacturing of products for strategical markets.”

GoPro volition besides “fully support” its existing user products portion “investing successful maturation and a broader, diversified merchandise roadmap.”

It’s not precisely wide what each that means, and Starman Optical doesn’t person a important way grounds to justice its performance.

The institution bills itself arsenic an “optical-photonics institution focused connected the improvement and home manufacturing of optical transceivers and related photonics technologies done its Starman New Photonics business.” Both Starman Optical and Starman New Photonics are portion of Starman Holdings, which owns user tech brands similar Incase, Incipio and Griffin.

Starman Optical was lone incorporated successful Delaware connected August 31, portion Starman New Photonics appears to person been created successful 2025, and is gathering a manufacturing facility successful New Jersey.

“Advanced optics and imaging are indispensable to AI, nationalist security, and the broader economy, yet overmuch of the captious hardware supporting these technologies continues to beryllium manufactured overseas,” Charles Tebele, the CEO of Starman Holdings, said successful a statement. “The operation of GoPro’s world-class optical expertise and intelligence spot with Starman’s precocious transceiver capabilities and U.S. manufacturing level creates a unsocial opportunity. Together, we mean to bring accumulation of these captious components backmost to the United States.”

GoPro went public successful 2014, erstwhile its enactment cameras were selling millions of units per year. In the decennary since, the institution tried branching into caller categories similar drones and 360-degree cameras, but it didn’t find overmuch luck with either. GoPro past refocused connected high-performing versions of its enactment cameras, and kept them targeted astatine pros, prosumers and athletes, but it had to behaviour aggregate rounds of layoffs arsenic it narrowed the business.

In June, GoPro warned shareholders that it may spell retired of concern without caller funding. The pursuing month, laminitis and CEO Nick Woodman said helium was putting $20 cardinal into the business to support things going.

“We expect this merger to alteration GoPro to turn crossed consumer, commercialized and defence markets arsenic a starring American imaging and optical solutions company, addressing important areas of nationalist information related to cameras, optics and AI infrastructure. We’re excited to harvester with the Starman squad to capitalize connected this accidental and play an important relation successful America’s future,” Woodman said successful a statement.