GoPro Sold to Starman Optical for $285M, Pivots to Data Centers

GoPro has a buyer, and it's not a camera company. Starman Optical — a privately held US optical-photonics business — has signed a definitive merger agreement valuing GoPro at $285 million in cash ($1.14 per share). GoPro's ~$92 million debt gets repaid in full at closing, and existing shareholders keep around 10% of the recapitalised entity, which stays listed on Nasdaq. Starman's plan is to combine GoPro's imaging patents with its own optical transceiver operation and target AI data centers, defense, and aerospace — not action cameras. The sale follows a rough 12 months: a 23% workforce cut, a going-concern warning from auditors, revenue down 31% to $104.9 million last quarter, and camera sell-through down 38% to roughly 291,000 units.