GoPro revenue falls 26% as company pursues strategic alternatives

GoPro is fighting on several fronts at once: cheaper rivals, smartphones that do more of the work, and higher component costs that are crushing margins on a business built around premium action cameras. The pressure is showing up in the numbers, with revenue down sharply, units sliding and management now openly weighing strategic alternatives.

In the first quarter of 2026, GoPro posted revenue of $99 million, down 26% from a year earlier. Camera sell-through fell 29% to about 313,000 units, subscriber count ended the period at 2.26 million, down 8%, and the company reported a GAAP net loss of $81 million. Gross margin collapsed to 4.3% from 32.1% a year earlier, hit by a $24.5 million charge tied to component purchase commitments and a $4.5 million inventory sale.

The company’s founder, Nick Woodman, started GoPro in 2002 after a surfing trip inspired him to find a better way to film action sports. Two decades later, the brand still says its mission is to help people capture and share experiences in immersive ways, but the latest results show how narrow that proposition has become as the hardware market shifts around it.

GoPro’s full-year 2025 results underscored the same strain. Revenue fell to $652 million, down 19% year over year, while subscription and service revenue held at $106 million. The company said it absorbed $20 million in tariff expenses, reduced operating expenses by $93 million, or 26%, and improved cash flow from operations by $104 million, evidence that cost cuts have helped even as top-line momentum weakened.

Management has now moved beyond trimming expenses. On May 11, 2026, GoPro said its board authorized a review of strategic alternatives, and on May 13 it retained Houlihan Lokey to advise on a possible sale and other options after receiving unsolicited inbound interest from defense, consumer and financial parties. That process gives the company a path to test whether its brand, software and imaging assets have value beyond the action-camera category that made it famous.

GoPro is also trying to reinvent its product lineup. On March 3, 2026, it announced the GP3, a next-generation AI-enabled processor that it said would power new cameras starting in the second quarter. On April 14, it unveiled Mission 1, a line of professional 8K and 4K open-gate compact cinema cameras aimed at the high end of digital imaging. The company has also pointed to defense and aerospace opportunities, noting that its cameras were onboard NASA’s Artemis II mission to the Moon, while partnerships with Yamaha Champions Riding School and GameChanger suggest it is still searching for new ways to stay relevant outside nostalgia and extreme-sports branding.