Fatal Board · VIDEO ESSAY

What Happened to GoPro? How the $10 Billion Action Camera Giant Became a Meme Stock Worth Pennies

Subscribe to the channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0ps9eCp0y6yP1Xg4sDDFw?sub_confirmation=1 GoPro was worth more than ten billion dollars. Today it trades for pennies, its founder has lent it twenty million dollars of his own money, and it is looking for a buyer. This is the full story of how the company that invented the action camera walked, one rational decision at a time, all the way to the opposite of itself. From a broken wrist strap on a beach in Bali in two thousand two, to shell belts sold out of a Volkswagen van, to a thirty five millimeter film camera sold from a folding table at a trade show, to a Nasdaq listing at twenty four dollars a share and a stock that touched ninety eight dollars fourteen weeks later. Then the conference room in two thousand fourteen where a company sitting on four hundred and twenty seven million dollars decided what it wanted to be next, and chose wrong while everything was still going right. The Hero Four Session price collapse. The Karma drone, announced eight days before the Mavic Pro, recalled sixteen days after launch because it lost power in the air. The one dollar salary. The failed sale. The subscription business that almost worked. The meme stock rally that had nothing to do with cameras. The going concern warning. And, in the same year, GoPro cameras flying around the Moon. Sources and further reading: GoPro, Inc. investor relations, quarterly and annual results — https://investor.gopro.com/ GoPro, Inc. filings on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database — https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=GPRO&type=10-K Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, "GoPro closer to decision on future as Q2 revenue dips 31%," August 2026 — https://www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2026/08/10/gopro-closer-decision-future-q2-revenue-dips-31 Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, "Nasdaq warns GoPro again about stock delisting," July 2026 — https://www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2026/07/24/nasdaq-warns-gopro-failing-meet-minimum-common-stock-price-30-consecutive Bloomberg, "Krispy Kreme, GoPro Shares Surge With Markets Abuzz About Meme Stocks," July 2025 — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-23/dnut-krispy-kreme-gopro-gpro-shares-surge-with-markets-abuzz-about-meme-stocks GoPro, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K, fiscal year 2015 GoPro, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K, fiscal year 2024 GoPro press release, "GoPro Announces Voluntary Recall of Karma Drone," November 2016 CNBC reporting on GoPro's January 2018 restructuring and exit from the drone market Foxconn Technology Group and GoPro investment announcement, December 2012 This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.