GoPro agreed to merge with Starman Optical, a privately held optical-photonics company that is paying $285M, or $1.14 a share in cash, for roughly 90% of the business and repaying about $92M of GoPro debt at closing. Existing shareholders keep the rest, the company stays listed on Nasdaq, and the deal should close by year-end pending regulatory clearance and a shareholder vote. Starman plans to fold its US-made optical transceiver operation into GoPro and point the combination at AI data centers, defense, and aerospace, while GoPro keeps selling cameras and subscriptions. GoPro warned in June that it might not survive without new funding, and founder Nick Woodman put $20M of his own money in during July to keep it running while it shopped itself.
