public traded as nasdaq gpro industry technology videography consumer electronics founded 2002 ; 14 years ago 2002 founder nick woodman headquarters san mateo california u.s. area served worldwide key people nick woodman ceo tony bates president products action camera video editing software mobile application revenue us 1.62 billion 2015 1 operating income us 54.75 million 2015 1 profit us 36.13 million 2015 1 total assets us 1.10 billion 2015 1 number of employees 970 2014 subsidiaries cineform replay splice website gopro.com gopro inc. 2 marketed as gopro and sometimes known as gopro is an american technology company founded in 2002 by nick woodman . it manufactures eponymous action cameras and develops its mobile apps and video editing software . founded originally as woodman labs inc the company eventually descended into the connected sport genre developing its line of action cameras and eventually video editing software . most recently it has developed a quadcopter drone karma which was released in october 2016 . contents 1 history 1.1 corporate actions 1.2 ipo 2 product lines 2.1 hero cameras 2.2 karma 2.3 accessories 2.4 video editing 3 content company 4 hd hero cameras 5 products 5.1 hero cameras 5.1.1 35mm 5.1.2 digital 5.1.3 digital 3 5.1.4 digital 5 5.1.5 digital wide 5.1.6 hd 5.1.6.1 960 5.1.6.2 hd 5.1.6.3 specifications 5.1.7 2 5.1.8 3 5.1.8.1 3 5.1.9 4 5.1.9.1 lcd 5.1.9.2 5.1.10 5 5.2 karma drone 5.3 announced 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit the company was founded by nick woodman in 2002 . woodman was motivated by a 2002 surfing trip to australia in which he was hoping to capture quality action photos but could not because amateur photographers could not get close enough or buy quality equipment at reasonable prices . 3 his desire for a camera system that could capture the professional angles inspired the gopro name . 4 5 woodman initially raised a portion of his capital by selling bead and shell belts for under us 20 out of his vw van 6 and later fashionable camera straps . he also received over 230 000 in investment from his parents . 7 8 in 2004 the company sold its first camera system which used 35 mm film . 4 digital still and video cameras were later introduced . as of 2014 update a fixed lens hd video camera with a wide 170 degree lens was available ; two or more can be paired to create 360 video . 4 9 on june 4 2014 the company announced the appointment of former microsoft executive tony bates as president reporting directly to woodman . 10 in january 2016 gopro partnered with periscope for live streaming . 11 after growing the number of employees by more than 500 in 2015 the company responded to weak sales in the fourth quarter by cutting about 100 or 7 % of its workforce in january 2016 . 12 corporate actions edit on march 30 2011 gopro acquired cineform . the acquisition included the cineform 444 video codec used in the film slumdog millionaire . the company claimed that the codec makes hd and 3d editing faster and more convenient without sacrificing image quality . it was incorporated in the company s 3d hero system shortly after the acquisition . 13 14 in march 2013 gopro issued a dmca takedown notice to website digitalrev.com which had posted a review 15 of its product citing trademark use as a breach of copyright . this notice was retracted 10 days later citing erroneous enforcement . 16 17 on february 29 2016 gopro spent 105 million and acquired two start ups namely stupeflix and vemory for their video editing tools replay and splice . 18 19 ipo edit on february 7 2014 gopro submitted a confidential filing for an initial public offering ipo with the securities and exchange commission sec . 20 on may 19 2014 gopro formally filed its s 1 with the sec without specifying the number of shares or their price . the company stated that they hoped to raise at least 100 million through the sale of shares using the money to pay off debt in full 111 million as of march 31 2014 and to acquire or invest in complementary businesses technologies or assets . they said that they planned to list on the nasdaq stock exchange using the symbol gpro . 21 22 the expected price range was 21 to 24 a share ; on june 25 2014 gopro sold 17.8 million shares to initial investors at 24 per share totaling 427.2 m . 23 at the ipo price the company was valued at 2.95 billion . 21 1.5 percent of those shares were allotted to loyal3 a technology platform that allows small investors to participate . 24 25 an important reason for gopro s decision to go public was the potential to become a media company to generate additional revenue from the content its cameras create . 26 27 product lines edit hero cameras edit woodman worked on his first camera for two years after founding the company eventually introducing the gopro 35mm hero in september 2004 at san diego s action sports retailer trade show . 28 in its first year gopro sold 150 000 worth of products . 28 in 2006 the company introduced its first digital hero with 10 second video capability and generated 800 000 in revenue . the following year gopro sales quadrupled to 3.4 million . 28 in 2014 the company was selling the hero3 in editions of different colors . it was capable of filming in 16 9 aspect ratio supporting 4k uhd video and 12mp still photographs . 29 the hero 4 was introduced on 24 september 2014 . 30 karma edit the gopro karma is gopro s consumer drone . initially gopro started this project together with dji but this cooperation came to an end in 2015 . from then on gopro took full control of the development process . scheduled to be released early 2016 the gopro karma project was delayed several times before the gopro karma was finally announced to make it to the market in september 2016 . during the period leading up to the launch gopro released several teaser videos which sparked debate on the internet . various people thought the videos couldn t have been entirely shot with a drone and debated whether or not a handheld stabilizer would be part of the launch as well like it was seen with some of the yuneec international products . 31 accessories edit gopro produces various mounting accessories for its cameras including a 3 way mount suction cup chest harness jaws type flexible clamp dog harness surfing mount etc. 32 video editing edit the company developed gopro studio simple video editing software to edit camera footage 33 with v2 .5 released in october 2014 . it was reported that gopro intended to also become a content provider . 27 content company edit in april 2014 gopro was listed by adweek as one of the top 10 best brand channels on youtube based on a combination of views shares comments and overall engagement . 34 content is uploaded daily an additional source of revenue for the company . 35 as part of its transformation to a media company in 2014 gopro created additional channels with gopro content on youtube virgin america and xbox live . 26 this was extended to the playstation network in 2015 . 36 hd hero cameras edit as of october 2014 update gopro sells three fixed lens cameras two without viewfinders and one including a touchscreen viewfinder . a 2 bit lcd on the front of the camera allows access to its menu system which is controlled by the front and top shutter buttons . the hero4 black have dimensions of 41 mm 59 mm 30 mm and weighs 88 grams 152 grams with housing . still images from 6 to 12 megapixels can be captured . the cameras are sold with a clear polycarbonate hd housing with a glass lens that is rated shockproof and waterproof to 131 feet 40 m with a quick release buckle on the top and threads at the bottom to attach to all of the gopro mounts . the housing has metal buttons that connect to the camera s controls and has a skeleton backdoor option to allow audio recording when the camera is used with a mount but without the need to be watertight or shockproof . 37 non primary source needed products edit hero cameras edit 35mm edit the 35mm camera model 001 became available on april 13 2005 . it had dimensions of 2.5 by 3 inches 64 by 76 mm and weighed 0.45 pounds 200 g . it included the camera a clear case with quick release a camera strap and ski glove adapter lash . it could pivot on the fly and was functional to a depth in water of about 15 feet 5 m . it was described as a reusable wrist camera and included a roll of 24 exposure kodak 400 film . digital edit the digital hero released in 2006 model sq907 mini cam had a 640 460 camera and shot vga definition 320x240 10fps video for a maximum of 10 seconds . the digital hero 1 had 32 mb internal memory without sd slot . digital 3 edit the digital hero 3 released in 2007 had a 3 megapixel camera and shot standard definition 512 384 video . it was rated up to 30 meters 98.4 feet in depth . 38 digital 5 edit the digital hero 5 was first introduced on december 5 2008 . it had a 5 megapixel still photo sensor and supported standard definition 512 384 video capture . it ran on two aaa batteries had 16 mb of internal memory and could function with a 2 gb sd card . its housing was rated to 100 ft 30 meters depth . its dimensions were 2.6 1.75 1.25 inches 66 44 32 mm . the camera is not designed to work with the newer hd hero line of housings although the standard screw mounts are indeed compatible . digital wide edit this section is empty . you can help by adding to it . january 2016 hd edit 960 edit hd hero 960 shoots a maximum of 960p video 39 and is not compatible with gopro s electronic accessories although the camera is compatible with all gopro mounts . it was first listed on august 6 2010 . 40 hd edit the hd hero naked released with a range of accessories shoots a maximum of 1080p video on its 5mp sensor . 41 the naked camera line forms the basis for other bundles which are differentiated by the types of mounts they have hd helmet hero hd motorsports hero hd surf hero . it was first listed on january 25 2010 . specifications edit sensor size 1 2.5 inch 5.75 mm 4.28 mm pixel size 2.2 m image formats mode size fps fov r1 848 480 60 170 r2 1280 720 30 170 r3 1280 720 60 170 r4 1280 960 30 170 r5 1920 1080 30 127 photo 2592 1944 0 170 2 edit the hero2 was launched on october 24 2011 . it has an 11 mp image sensor improved low light capability and records at up to 120 frames per second . 42 it was sold with three different accessory packages as the outdoor motorsports and surf editions . 43 3 edit in late 2012 gopro announced the hero 3 line of cameras . 44 these new cameras came in three editions black silver and white . all three versions of the hero3 come in a new 30 % smaller and 25 % lighter package with wifi functionality built in . the change of the physical dimensions of the cameras compared to the previous generations hero1 and hero2 were physically identical means