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.