Foxconn pays $200M for 9 percent share of GoPro, joins board
updated 11:25 am EST, Thu December 20, 2012
Purchase raises GoPro valuation to over $2 billion
Foxconn has bought an almost 9-percent stake in sports camera maker GoPro. The Taiwanese electronics giant agreed to pay $200 million for the shares, which will see Foxconn founder and CEO Terry Gou join the GoPro board. The purchase gives GoPro a valuation of around $2.25 billion, based on Foxcon's ownership of 8.88-percent of the company.
GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman welcomed Foxconn, and hopes "to scale GoPro into one of the great enabling companies of our time." The new company valuation far exceeds the $300 million to $500 million that GoPro expected to be when it planned to go public next year, according to sources of Reuters in June. The new investment makes it unlikely to go public, at least not for the value the company expected.
Foxconn continues to be a major force in electronics manufacturing, with notable clients including Apple and Microsoft, and according to rumors, may be producing a 5-inch smartphone for Amazon. The company is also looking to expand its North American production facilities in the future, and has also bought lad near Sao Paulo in Brazil for a new factory.
