It's no secret that GoPro has had a rough spell, announcing yesterday that it lost another US$9.1 million in Q4, bringing it to US$93.5 million for the year. CEO Nick Woodman's solution – other than the new processor we have already seen – is elevating people called Brian.
Specifically, COO Brian McGee is having 'President' added to his title, with the goal of the company working better as a whole, while Brian Tratt will be the new CFO.
None of this means GoPro is going anywhere, and Woodman spoke of the program the company has created by which it is buying content from creators
He also spoke of the motorcycle helmet with built-in camera system which has long been expected since GoPro partnered with AGV Helmets and bought Forcite Helmet Systems – it seems that we can at least expect to get some glimpses of the first fruit of these deals (perhaps only in the form of teasers) before the year is out.
Woodman also spoke of the patent cases against Insta360, taking a slightly different view to the one I did. It seems that the CEO plans to "continue to defend" 1,500 patents, even though only a week ago the U.S. International Trade Commission seemed to take a different view. (I reported that GoPro lost 5-0 in that case).
More encouragingly, I'd say, for creators is GoPro's GP3 chip, covered recently, and Woodman says it has the company "fired up", with cameras resleases promised soon.
If you're a GoPro user, should you be worried? I don't think so.
Shareholders won't love the numbers, but the company has had to face tariffs, but still generated revenue of $202m versus guidance of $220 for 2025, so not far off, and still sold 2 million GoPro cameras. Subscriptions are not dropping significantly either.
That's still about 20% fewer cameras than in 2024, which superficially seems inevitable given the amazing competition that now exists in the best action cameras guide and the best 360 cameras, but at least GoPro is now a serious contender again.
If the GP3 chip lives up to the hype and starts shipping in devices as promised in Q2 2026 – perhaps only a month away – GoPro's future could be very exciting again.
