GoPro's filing suggests the company is looking to create a social media giant based on the enormous amount of content its more than 8.5 million customers have generated, and it recently entered into an agreement with Microsoft to develop a GoPro Channel on Xbox Live that will be supported by advertising and sponsoring. Much like Aple, the content is generating for this channelwould be controlled by GoPro's own hardware and managed through its own software such as GpPro Studio App. GoPro's Oct.2013 acquisition og General Things Inc. is helping it acclerate its strategy of developing an integrated content management platform to simplify the organizing, editing and sharing of content.
While the company is sure to get a rich valuation based on its high tech status and the fact that it has actual revenues and is solidly profitable, the filing also discloses that Q1 sales and operating income declined sharply. The decline is attributed to production delays on its Hero3 Black edition in Q4 of 2013, which then spilled over into an unusually large Q1 of 2013 as it caught up to the back orders. FY12 was driven by a 66% increase in unitsshipped to 3.8 million and a 19% increase in ASP. However, gross margin fell to 37% from 43% as the cost of its new Hero3 was 67% higher than previous products. A new Hero3+ model has recaptured some of that gross margin, the company said.
The intial S-1 doesn't list the share price range, but confirms the San Mateo, CA,firm intends to use part of the proceeds to pay the remaining $111 million on a $120 million term loan and the balance for general corporate purposes, including the possible acquisition of complementary technologied.
Some fun facts about GoPro: In 2013, its customers uploaded approximately 2.8 years of video on Youtube. It averages 6000 uploads per day and has had over 450 million video views.
