Things are moving fast now: Hardly has our news item today about 
YouTuber Mark Fischman aka Markiplier becoming GoPro's largest shareholder been published, when everything looks different again. Just a few hours ago, GoPro announced that it will merge with the little-known US photonics company Starman Optical, thereby repositioning itself beyond its previous action cam business as a provider of optics and imaging technologies for AI data centers, defense, government, robotics, and aerospace. This would secure the company's continued existence and successfully conclude the search for an investor.
A corresponding definitive agreement has been signed—as part of the planned transaction, which is expected to close by the end of the year, GoPro shareholders will receive a total of 285 million US dollars in cash, or 1.14 US dollars per share. This amount is subject to adjustment depending on GoPro's net working capital at the time of closing. (It looks like Markiplier is getting a handsome return on his investment.) At the same time, existing GoPro shareholders will hold approximately 10 percent of the outstanding shares of the merged company.
GoPro's outstanding debt of approximately 92 million US dollars is to be repaid in full upon closing of the transaction, so that the merged company will subsequently have a largely debt-free balance sheet.
According to the GoPro investor release, the company will "continue to fully support its existing consumer products as well as its subscription and cloud platform." Conspicuously, there is no mention of further new developments, though it remains to be hoped that more models will follow the Mission 1 Pro cameras.
