GoPro to Sell Majority Stake for $285 Million, Pivot to AI and Defense

Action camera company GoPro has agreed to sell a majority stake to optics manufacturer Starman Optical, the two companies said Tuesday. Starman Optical will buy 90% of GoPro’s shares for $285 million in cash, or $1.14 a share. GoPro shares jumped 40% on Tuesday.

The deal is expected to close by the end of this year and will help GoPro, which will remain a public company, clear its $92 million in debt, the companies said. GoPro cameras designed to record videos of actions like skiing or surfing had propelled its shares to as high as $93 in 2014. But shares tumbled in subsequent years on declining sales and, more recently, increased memory costs.

This June, GoPro expressed “substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

The merger would position GoPro to move into “areas of national security related to cameras, optics and AI infrastructure,” GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman said in a statement. The combined company hopes to target its optics and imaging technologies towards the defense, datacenter, aerospace and robotics markets.