Shares of sports cameramaker, GoPro Inc, have risen as much as 38% in their market debut after going public on the Nasdaq exchange, with shares hitting a high of $33 in early trading on Thursday – valuing the company at about $4bn.
GoPro is the first US consumer-electronics company to go public since headphones-maker Skullcandy Inc in 2011.
The company says its videos attracted more than 1bn views in the first quarter on YouTube, where its channel has 2 million subscribers. Felix Baumgartner’s record-setting 24-mile jump from a stratospheric balloon was captured using a GoPro camera – a video that has attracted nearly 16 million views alone.
The brand was founded in 2004 by Nick Woodman, who hit upon the idea while on a surfing trip to Australia, raising his first funds to develop the camera by selling seashell necklaces along the California coast.
Woodman spoke to sportindustry.biz at the opening of their new European headquarters in Germany earlier this year, read the full article here.
GoPro – whose ambassadors include Olympic gold medal winning snow boarder Shaun White and 11-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater – sold 8.9m shares, while the rest were offered by selling stockholders, including Woodman and investors Riverwood Capital LP, Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd and Sageview Capital Master LP.
Woodman, the company’s chief executive and its largest shareholder with a 48% stake, sold about 3.6m shares.
The popularity of its Wi-Fi equipped cameras drove San Mateo, California-based GoPro’s revenue to nearly $1bn in 2013, an 88% increase from the year earlier, with its net profit doubling to about $61m.
Sales have grown rapidly outside the United States, with international revenue now more than half of the company’s total in the first quarter of 2014, up from 35% in 2011.
Outside of sport, GoPro cameras have also become popular among bands such as The Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters, while the company received an Emmy award in 2013 for its contribution to the television industry.
