After years of declining profits and increased debt, GoPro, the household name for action cameras, will merge with another US-based company in an effort to rescue the camera brand from bankruptcy. But what does the merger mean for action cameras?
On September 1, GoPro announced a planned merger with Starman Optical Inc, a US-based company that makes high-speed transceivers that are in high demand amid the AI data center boom.
Now, new internal emails between GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman and employees, as well as an email between the action camera brand and GoPro customers, are offering more hints as to what the merger means for the longstanding action camera brand.
The announcement has fueled a myriad of opinions over the merger, which has been agreed to by both parties but still faces regulatory approval. The concern stems, in part, from the announcement’s heavy reference to AI data centers, which is where much of the tech that Starman Optical builds is headed.
Even YouTuber Mark Plier, who became GoPro’s largest shareholder a few weeks before the merger announcement, says he is “not gonna be on board” if GoPro pivots away from cameras.
With the merger not yet finalized, emails originally marked as “confidential” but filed as part of stock market paperwork offer additional insight into what the merger could mean for GoPro.
GoPro’s action cameras aren’t going anywhere
Both the official merger announcement and the newly revealed internal emails stress that the merger doesn’t mean the end for GoPro’s cameras.
“Day to day, your GoPro experience does not change,” the email to customers and distributors reads. “We will continue to operate the business as usual. GoPro will remain a publicly listed company and will continue to fully support our existing products and our subscription and cloud service while developing a broader, diversified product roadmap. Products, services and support continue as they are. The current product lineup stays in production and remains available for purchase.”
While the announcement stressed a potential expansion into AI data centers, defense and aerospace markets, Woodman’s internal email to employees hints that the merger could help expand GoPro’s consumer products as well.
“Starman Optical has the resources to help us scale-expand our consumer product roadmap, grow our software and subscription business, and broaden the categories we compete to include commercial and defense markets,” Woodman wrote to employees.
The news of the merger comes on the heels of the GoPro Mission 1 series, which GoPro says is the camera that fans have been asking for since the Hero7 Black in 2018. The new series, with its larger one-inch sensors and the company’s first mirrorless camera, further hints that GoPro still wants to be known as a camera maker.
But, GoPro wants to expand beyond the action camera
The word “GoPro” is often interchangeable with the word “action camera.” While GoPro also has accessories and 360 cameras – and once launched a drone – the brand has always been known for largely one thing.
But, with the merger, GoPro wants to push into more categories – and while GoPro cameras may not be going anywhere, the word “GoPro” in the future may not necessarily mean a camera.
Woodman continues in the email by saying that Starman Optical “are very strategically positioned in the AI infrastructure industry as an up and coming U.S. manufacturer of optical transceivers that we believe will bring in meaningful high-margin revenue to help fund GoPro's growth initiatives into new markets – establishing GoPro over time as a diversified optics and imaging company across consumer, commercial and defense while creating significant value for shareholders.”
GoPro’s desire to push into more industries isn’t a secret. When Woodman announced the search for a potential buyer or merger earlier this year, the company said that GoPro had been receiving “unsolicited” inquiries after announcing that the company was looking into the defense and aerospace industries.
The merger could also push GoPro into AI infrastructure
The initial announcement for the search back in May, however, didn’t mention a push into AI data centers. Starman Optical builds optical transceivers, the hardware that moves data by using light.
In his official statement, Woodman said that the merger would help address “important areas of national security related to cameras, optics and AI infrastructure.”
GoPro wouldn’t be the first struggling consumer brand eyeing the AI boom. But a camera maker known for small, durable cameras may make sense in the AI space – or at least more sense than a shoe brand moving into AI – as cameras are increasingly built into more smart products.
Last year, GoPro announced an opt-in program that allows GoPro users to submit their footage for AI training, with GoPro subscribers earning up to 50 percent of the revenue from that AI licensing.
The merger could mean moving to US-based manufacturing
Another key phrase was mentioned across both GoPro’s official announcement and the internal emails: US onshore manufacturing. “The combined company also expects to invest in growth and onshore the manufacturing of products for strategic markets,” the email to customers reads.
That echoes the same phrase from the initial merger announcement: "We expect this merger to enable GoPro to grow across consumer, commercial and defense markets as a leading American imaging and optical solutions company, addressing important areas of national security related to cameras, optics and AI infrastructure,” Woodman said.
Charles Tebele, Chief Executive Officer of Starman Holding, echoed the sentiment on US manufacturing: "Advanced optics and imaging are essential to AI, national security, and the broader economy, yet much of the critical hardware supporting these technologies continues to be manufactured overseas. The combination of GoPro's world-class optical expertise and intellectual property with Starman's advanced transceiver capabilities and U.S. manufacturing platform creates a unique opportunity. Together, we intend to bring production of these critical components back to the United States."
Like drones, the Trump Administration has labeled the overseas manufacturing of semiconductors as a threat to national security, including the semiconductors integral to AI.
While GoPro is a US-based company, its action cameras are currently manufactured in Mexico and China.
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Take a look at the best GoPro cameras, or read up on the new GoPro Mission 1 Pro or the Mission 1 Pro ILS.
