Nick Woodman, CEO of GoPro, has shared a letter with the world – and especially the company's customers – promising that the $285 million / £211 million / AU$396 million merger with Starman Optical will not be the end of the GoPro camera and other consumer products.
On September 01, the company entered into an agreement with the little-known, privately held US optical-photonics company. The deal clears GoPro's $92 million / £68 million / AU$128 million cash debt and pays shareholders $1.14 / 0.84 / AU$1.58 per share to acquire GoPro, but not much was known about Starman Optical in the camera community.
What was known is that the company concentrated on delivering equipment for military purposes (national security was mentioned in the GoPro statement), so understandably a lot of people started putting two and two together and concluded that the GoPro consumer brand might not be long for this world.
This despite the fact that Starman does bring US-based production facilities to the table, potentially enabling GoPro cameras to be produced despite the ever-tightening restrictions on foreign imports facing American consumers – restrictions that make it harder to choose the latest action cameras from brands like DJI, which is based in China.
Nick Woodman also confirmed that the Starman deal meant GoPro would "grow across consumer, commercial and defence markets," although the fact that consumer is only a third of that list was already chipped away at by his own addition that GoPro would "continue to fully support its existing consumer products and its subscription and cloud platform."
The use of the word 'existing' is the key warning sign for anyone; it suggests that GoPro might not be developing any new devices for the consumer / pro photographer market, which is never a good place to be with a brand.
The speculation fueled by that news, shared through GoPro's investor relations, no doubt explains Woodman's subsequent letter.
In it, he says, "Making amazing cameras for all of you is our core DNA and reason for being and that will never change!" He goes on to suggest that Starman shares the 'passion' for the GoPro brand, and the improved finances should boost innovation at the company.
He doesn't roll back on his previous statement, but does acknowledge consumers' concerns. "Our goal is to become a more diversified company which can make us stronger financially, enabling GoPro to become as awesome as we (and you) want us to be."
Signing off "with respect and admiration," GoPro's founder promises that following up on capturing life's moments is "what we were founded to do and it’s what we will always do."
Whether he has that power in the new corporate structure remains to be seen, but it seems unlikely that recent customers need be unduly concerned; support for the cloud services continues.
Arguably, replacing the cameras iteratively every year made little sense in the action camera space anyway. People don't even replace their phones each year, so GoPro was always going to face a limited market for a product that – for most – is used far less frequently than a phone.
Perhaps some smarter decisions are inbound and need not threaten the consumer division.
If you're interested in checking out the best action cameras, you'll see, by the way, that GoPro has some serious competition in any case.
