GoPro CEO says cameras are ‘what we were founded to do and it’s what we will always do’ following merger uncertainty — but I’ll believe it when I see it  | amznusa.com

• GoPro CEO Nick Woodman has released a statement following concern around the company’s “merger” with Starman
• He provides assurances that the company is committed to making consumer cameras
• But there are no concrete commitments – and a disclaimer list that’s longer than the statement itself

GoPro has been in the spotlight over the past couple of days following the announcement of its “merger” with Starman Optical Inc, a private optical photonics company that few of us had heard of before two days ago.

The announcement caused a heap of speculation among GoPro enthusiasts, much of it negative. Consumer cameras were barely mentioned, with GoPro’s output being described as “industry-leading imaging solutions featuring innovative, advanced optics, market-defining technology and an associated IP portfolio.”

A quote from GoPro CEO Nick Woodman described GoPro’s ambitions following the merger to be to grow across “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”.

For a lot of people — myself included — alarm bells started ringing. It sounded a lot like GoPro would be pivoting away from consumer cameras. This backlash has clearly reached Woodman, as he has released a follow-up statement. In a letter addressed directly to the “GoPro community, fans and customers”, he provides assurances that the company is still wholeheartedly committed to making cameras, and that there are no plans for this to change.

“Making amazing cameras for all of you is our core DNA and reason for being and that will never change!” Woodman says.

He describes how GoPro’s improved financial situation following Starman’s wiping of its debts will allow the company to “innovate, invent and advance the future of consumer and professional content creation”. He acknowledges that GoPro is going to become a more “diversified” company, but that this should improve its financial situation and allow it to keep on making and releasing cameras.

And he finishes with one more assurance that GoPro is going to keep on making “the world’s highest-performance cameras and building the products, services and innovations that help you capture life’s most exciting moments. “It’s what we were founded to do and it’s what we will always do”, says Woodman.

An uncertain future

Reading Woodman’s full letter, there are a couple of things that immediately jump out. One is that he stops short of making any concrete commitments — nary a hint of “we plan to release [X] number of cameras by [X] date” or anything similar. Another is that the list of disclaimers at the bottom is twice as long as Woodman’s actual statement. In the disclaimers, we are unambiguously reminded that “forward-looking statements” are subject to “risks, uncertainties, and assumptions”, and that material outcomes in reality may differ.

As evidence to support GoPro’s commitment to image-making, Woodman points out that the company has accrued more than 2500 patents over the last 24 years. Which is very commendable, but the discerning reader will likely point out that these patents were all made before GoPro was bought up by a defense-focused AI optics company. As such, they don’t do much to address the substance of people’s concerns.

So, while it is nice to see Woodman saying something directly to GoPro customers following the alarmingly vague statement that was made to announce the merger, I wouldn’t fully relax just yet. Ultimately, the real test of GoPro’s commitment to cameras is going to come over the next few years as we see what the company releases.