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Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4)
Registration No. 333-196083

Prospectus

17,800,000 shares

Class A common stock

This is an initial public offering of shares of Class A common stock by GoPro, Inc. We are selling 8,900,000 shares of Class A common stock, and the selling stockholders are selling 8,900,000 shares of Class A common stock. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders. The initial public offering price is $24.00 per share.

We have two classes of outstanding common stock, Class A common stock and Class B common stock. The rights of the holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are identical, except voting and conversion rights. Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote. Each share of Class B common stock is entitled to 10 votes and is convertible at any time into one share of Class A common stock. The holders of our outstanding Class B common stock will hold approximately 98.4% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock following this offering, with our executive officers and directors and their affiliates holding approximately 72.8%, and Nicholas Woodman, our Chief Executive Officer, holding approximately 47.7% after his sale of 3,562,892 shares of Class A common stock in this offering.

Prior to this offering there has been no public market for our common stock. Our Class A common stock has been approved for listing on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “GPRO.”

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined under the federal securities laws. Investing in our Class  A common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk factors” beginning on page 18.

 

		Per share				Total
Initial public offering price		$	24.00			$	427,200,000
Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)		$	1.44			$	25,632,000
Proceeds to GoPro, Inc., before expenses		$	22.56			$	200,784,000
Proceeds to selling stockholders		$	22.56			$	200,784,000

 

(1)

See “Underwriting” for a description of the compensation payable to the underwriters.

Certain of the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to 2,670,000 additional shares of Class A common stock.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed on the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares of Class A common stock to purchasers on July 1, 2014.

 

J.P. Morgan		Citigroup			Barclays
Allen & Company LLC		Stifel			Baird
MCS Capital Markets		Piper Jaffray			Raymond James

June 25, 2014

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Gopro® Be a HERO.

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Enabling The World To Capture And Share Its Passion. Gopro® Be a HERO.

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Prospectus summary			1
Risk factors			18
Special note regarding forward-looking statements and industry data			44
Use of proceeds			46
Dividend policy			47
Capitalization			48
Dilution			51
Selected consolidated financial data			54
Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations			57
Business			91
Management			111
Executive compensation			121
Certain relationships and related person transactions			135
Principal and selling stockholders			140
Description of capital stock			145
Shares eligible for future sale			151
Certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations for non-U.S. holders of Class A common stock			154
Underwriting			159
Conflicts of interest			167
Legal matters			168
Experts			168
Where you can find additional information			168
Index to consolidated financial statements			F-1

 

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You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or contained in any free writing prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Neither we, the selling stockholders nor the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide you with additional information or information different from that contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We and the selling stockholders are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, our Class A common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of shares of our Class A common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

Through and including July 20, 2014 (25 days after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that buy, sell or trade shares of our Class A common stock, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This delivery requirement is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.

For investors outside the United States: Neither we, the selling stockholders nor any of the underwriters have done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of Class A common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside the United States.

 

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Risk factors

You should carefully consider the risks described below and all other information contained in this prospectus before making an investment decision. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected if any of the following risks, or other risks and uncertainties that are not yet identified or that we currently think are immaterial, actually occur. In that event, the trading price of our shares may decline, and you may lose part or all of your investment.

Risks related to our business and industry

We operate in a highly competitive market and the size and resources of some of our competitors may allow them to compete more effectively than we can, which could result in a loss of our market share and a decrease in our revenue and profitability.

The market for capture devices, including cameras and camcorders, is highly competitive. Further, we expect competition to intensify in the future as existing competitors introduce new and more competitive offerings alongside their existing products, and as new market entrants introduce new products into our markets. We compete against established, well-known camera manufacturers such as Canon Inc., Nikon Corporation, Olympus Corporation, Polaroid Holding Corporation and Vivitar Corporation, large, diversified electronics companies such as JVC Kenwood Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Corporation and Toshiba Corporation, and specialty companies such as Garmin Ltd. Many of our current competitors have substantial market share, diversified product lines, well-established supply and distribution systems, strong worldwide brand recognition and greater financial, marketing, research and development and other resources than we do. In addition, many of our existing and potential competitors enjoy substantial competitive advantages, such as:

 

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longer operating histories;

 

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the capacity to leverage their sales efforts and marketing expenditures across a broader portfolio of products;

 

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broader distribution and established relationships with channel partners;

 

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access to larger established customer bases;

 

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greater resources to make acquisitions;

 

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larger intellectual property portfolios; and

 

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the ability to bundle competitive offerings with other products and services.

Moreover, smartphones and tablets with photo and video functionality have significantly displaced traditional camera sales. It is possible that, in the future, the manufacturers of these devices, such as Apple Inc. and Samsung, may design them for use in a range of conditions, including challenging physical environments, or develop products similar to ours. In addition to competition or potential competition from large, established companies, new companies may emerge and offer competitive products. Further, we are aware that certain companies have developed cameras designed and labeled to appear similar to our products, which may confuse consumers or distract consumers from purchasing GoPro products.

 

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Increased competition may result in pricing pressures and reduced profit margins and may impede our ability to continue to increase the sales of our products or cause us to lose market share, any of which could substantially harm our business and results of operations.

We depend on sales of our capture devices for substantially all of our revenue, and any decrease in the sales of these products would harm our business.

To date, substantially all of our revenue has been derived from sales of our capture devices, and we expect to continue to derive the substantial majority of our revenue from sales of cameras and accessories for the foreseeable future. A decline in the price of these products, whether due to macroeconomic conditions, competition or otherwise, or our inability to increase sales of these products, would harm our business and operating results more seriously than it would if we derived significant revenue from a variety of product lines and services. Any decrease in the sales of our capture devices would harm our business. While we are evaluating other products and services to add to our offerings, we may not be successful in identifying or executing on such opportunities, and we expect sales of capture devices to represent a substantial portion of our revenue for the foreseeable future. As a result, our future growth and financial performance will depend heavily on our ability to develop and sell enhanced versions of our capture devices. If we fail to deliver product enhancements, new releases or new products that our customers want, our business and results of operations would be harmed.

We rely on third-party suppliers, some of which are sole-source suppliers, to provide components for our products.

All of the components that go into the manufacture of our cameras and accessories are sourced from third-party suppliers, and some of these components are provided by a single supplier or by a supplier that could potentially become a competitor. If we lose access to components from a particular supplier, or experience a significant disruption in the supply of products and components from a current supplier, we may be unable to locate alternative suppliers of comparable quality at an acceptable price, or at all, and our business could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, if we experience a significant increase in demand for our products, our suppliers might not have the capacity or elect to meet our needs as they allocate components to other customers. Identifying a suitable supplier is an involved process that requires us to become satisfied with the supplier’s quality control, responsiveness and service, financial stability and labor and other ethical practices, and if we seek to source materials from new suppliers there can be no assurance that we could do so in a manner that does not disrupt the manufacture and sale of our products. Our reliance on single source, or a limited number of, suppliers involves a number of additional risks, including risks related to:

 

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supplier capacity constraints;

 

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price increases;

 

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timely delivery;

 

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component quality;

 

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failure of a key supplier to remain in business and adjust to market conditions;

 

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delays in, or the inability to execute on, a supplier roadmap for components and technologies; and

 

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natural disasters, fire, acts of terrorism or other catastrophic events.

 

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In particular, we incorporate video compression and image processing semiconductors from one provider, Ambarella, Inc., into all of our cameras, and we do not have an alternative supplier for these key components. If Ambarella stopped supplying components on acceptable terms, or at all, or we experienced delays in receipt of components from Ambarella, we would experience a significant disruption in our ability to produce our products, and our business would be materially and adversely affected.

We do not expect to continue to grow in the future at the same rate as we have in the past and profitability in recent periods might not be indicative of future performance.

Although our revenue and profitability have grown rapidly from 2009 through 2013, you should not consider our recent revenue growth as indicative of our future performance. In future periods, our revenue could decline or grow more slowly than we expect. We also may incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, including other risks described in this prospectus, and we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors.

If our sales during the holiday season fall below our forecasts, our overall financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Seasonal consumer shopping patterns significantly affect our business. Specifically, our revenue is traditionally strongest in the fourth quarter of each year due to increased consumer purchases during holiday periods, and fourth quarter revenue comprised 44% and 37% of our 2012 and 2013 revenue, respectively. Given the strong seasonal nature of our sales, appropriate forecasting is critical to our operations. We anticipate that this seasonal impact on our net sales is likely to continue and any shortfall in expected fourth quarter net sales, due to macroeconomic conditions, a decline in the effectiveness of our promotional activities or supply chain disruptions, or for any other reason, would cause our annual results of operations to suffer significantly.

In contrast, a substantial portion of our expenses are personnel related and include salaries, stock-based compensation, benefits and incentive-based compensation plan expenses, which are not seasonal in nature. Accordingly, in the event of revenue shortfalls, we are generally unable to mitigate the negative impact on margins in the short term. If this were to occur, our operating results would be harmed.

We may have difficulty in accurately predicting our future customer demand which could adversely affect our operating results.

To ensure adequate inventory supply and meet the demands of our retailers and distributors, we must forecast inventory needs and place orders with our contract manufacturers and component suppliers based on our estimates of future demand for particular products. We have relatively recently begun producing our products in substantial volumes, and we have experienced rapid growth. We may be unable to meet customer, retailer or distributor demand for our products or may be required to incur higher costs to secure the necessary production capacity and components. We could also overestimate future sales of our products and risk carrying excess product and component inventory. Further, our ability to accurately forecast demand for our products could be affected by other factors, including product introductions by competitors, unanticipated changes in general market demand, macroeconomic conditions or consumer confidence. If we fail to continue to develop the infrastructure that enables us to accurately forecast customer demand for our products, our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

 

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Our success depends on our ability to maintain the value and reputation of our brand.

Our success depends on the value and reputation of our brand, including our primary trademarks “GoPro” and “Be a Hero.” The GoPro name and premium brand image are integral to the growth of our business and expansion into new vertical markets. Maintaining, promoting and positioning our brand will largely depend on the success of our marketing and merchandising efforts and our ability to provide consistent, high quality products. If we fail to achieve these objectives or if our public image or reputation were to be tarnished by negative publicity, our brand, business and operating results could be adversely affected. Negative publicity regarding the athletes we sponsor and celebrities we are associated with, our products, our customers’ UGC and the labor policies of any of our suppliers or manufacturers could create corresponding negative publicity for us, harm our brand image and, as a result, adversely impact our sales and results of operations. Maintaining and enhancing our brand may require us to make substantial investments and these investments may not achieve the desired goals. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

To remain competitive and stimulate customer demand, we must successfully manage frequent product introductions and transitions.

We believe that we must continually develop and introduce new products, enhance our existing products and effectively stimulate customer demand for new and upgraded products. Our research and development efforts are complex and require us to incur substantial research and development expense. Our research and development expense was $8.6 million, $36.1 million, $73.7 million and $28.7 million for 2011, 2012, 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, respectively, and we anticipate that research and development expense will increase in the future. We may not be able to achieve an acceptable return, if any, on our research and development efforts. Further, any failure to complete product transitions effectively could harm our brand.

The success of new product introductions depends on a number of factors including, but not limited to, timely and successful research and development, market and customer acceptance, the effective forecasting and management of product demand, purchase commitments and inventory levels, the management of manufacturing and supply costs, and the risk that new products may have quality or other defects in the early stages of introduction. For example, in order to launch our HERO3 line of capture devices in time for the 2012 holiday shopping season, we implemented a compressed design and manufacturing cycle. As a result, our initial production run of HERO3 Black edition capture devices suffered from a number of design issues, part shortages and manufacturing problems, which reduced the number of units we were able to ship for the 2012 holiday season. Moreover, because of the compressed development schedule, our HERO3 capture devices required a subsequent firmware update to address certain issues, which resulted in negative publicity for us. In the future, if we do not successfully manage product transitions, especially during the holiday shopping season, our revenue and business may be harmed.

The introduction of new products or product enhancements may shorten the life cycle of our existing products, or replace sales of some of our current products, thereby offsetting the benefit of even a successful product introduction, and may cause customers to defer purchasing our existing products in anticipation of the new products and potentially lead to challenges in managing inventory of existing products. We also provide price protection to some of our retailers as a result of our new product introductions. If we fail to effectively manage new product introductions, our revenue and profitability may be harmed.

 

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Any material disruption of our information systems could adversely affect our operating results.

We are increasingly dependent on information systems to operate our ecommerce website, process transactions, respond to customer inquiries, manage our supply chain and inventory, ship goods on a timely basis and maintain cost-efficient operations. Any material disruption or slowdown of our systems, including a disruption or slowdown caused by our failure to successfully upgrade our systems, system failures, viruses, computer “hackers” or other causes, could cause delays in our supply chain or cause information, including data related to customer orders, to be lost or delayed which could result in delays in the delivery of merchandise to our stores and customers or lost sales, especially if the disruption or slowdown occurred during the holiday season. Any of these events could reduce demand for our products, impair our ability to complete sales through our ecommerce channels and cause our revenue to decline. If changes in technology cause our information systems to become obsolete, or if our information systems are inadequate to handle our growth, we could lose customers or our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

In particular, we are heavily reliant on our software-as-a-service, or SaaS, enterprise resource planning systems to conduct our order and inventory management and financial processes. As we expand our operations, we expect to utilize additional systems and service providers that may also be essential to managing our business. Although the systems and services that we require are typically available from a number of providers, it is time consuming and costly to qualify and implement these relationships. Therefore, our ability to manage our business would suffer if one or more of our providers suffer an interruption in their business, or experience delays, disruptions or quality control problems in their operations, or we have to change or add systems and services. We may not be able to control the quality of the systems and services we receive from third-party service providers, which could impair our ability to implement appropriate internal controls over financial reporting and may impact our business, operating results and financial condition.

We are highly dependent on our Chief Executive Officer.

Our future success depends in significant part on the continued service of our Chief Executive Officer, Nicholas Woodman. Mr. Woodman is critical to the strategic direction and overall management of our company as well as our research and development process. Mr. Woodman is an at-will employee and there are no vesting restrictions on any of the Class B common stock that he owns, although he holds 3,000,000 RSUs subject to vesting restrictions. The loss of Mr. Woodman could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We depend on key personnel to operate our business, and many members of our current management team are new. If we are unable to retain, attract and integrate qualified personnel, our ability to develop and successfully grow our business could be harmed.

In addition to the continued services of Mr. Woodman, we believe that our future success is highly dependent on the contributions of our executive officers, as well as our ability to attract and retain highly skilled and experienced sales, research and development and other personnel in the United States and abroad. Some of our executive management team, including our President, Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel, Senior Vice President of Software and Services, Vice President of Communications and Vice President of People, joined us recently and these changes in our management team may be disruptive to our business.

 

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All of our employees, including our executive officers, are free to terminate their employment relationship with us at any time, and their knowledge of our business and industry may be difficult to replace. If one or more of our executive officers or key employees leaves, we may not be able to fully integrate new personnel or replicate the prior working relationships, and our operations could suffer. Qualified individuals are in high demand, and we may incur significant costs to attract them. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel also have greater resources than we do. Competition for qualified personnel is particularly intense in the San Francisco Bay Area, where our headquarters are located. If we are unable to attract and retain highly skilled personnel, we may not be able to achieve our strategic objectives, and our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.

If we do not effectively maintain and further develop our sales channels, including developing and supporting our retail sales channel and distributors, our business could be harmed.

As a consumer-facing company, we depend upon effective sales channels to reach the consumers who are the ultimate purchasers of our capture devices. In the United States, we primarily sell our products directly through a mix of retail channels, including big box, mid-market and specialty retailers, and we reach certain U.S. markets through distributors. In international markets, we primarily sell through distributors who in turn sell to local retailers. We depend on retailers to provide adequate and attractive space for our products and POP displays in their stores. We further depend on our retailers to employ, educate and motivate their sales personnel to effectively sell our products. If our retailers do not adequately display our products, choose to promote competitors’ products over ours or do not effectively explain to customers the advantages of our products, our sales could decrease and our business could be harmed. Similarly, our business could be adversely affected if any of our large retail customers were to experience financial difficulties, or change the focus of their businesses in a way that deemphasized the sale of our products. We are also investing heavily in providing new retailers with POP displays and expanding the footprint of our POP displays in existing stores, and there can be no assurance that this investment will lead to increased sales.

We depend on our distributors to reach certain market segments in the United States and to reach our international retailers. Our distributors generally offer products from several different manufacturers. Accordingly, we are at risk that these distributors may give higher priority to selling other companies’ products. If we were to lose the services of a distributor, we might need to find another distributor in that area, and there can be no assurance of our ability to do so in a timely manner or on favorable terms. Further, our distributors build inventories in anticipation of future sales, and if such sales do not occur as rapidly as they anticipate, our distributors will decrease the size of their future product orders. We are also subject to the risks of our distributors encountering financial difficulties, which could impede their effectiveness and also expose us to financial risk if they are unable to pay for the products they purchase from us. Any reduction in sales by our current distributors, loss of key distributors or decrease in revenue from our distributors could adversely affect our revenue, operating results and financial condition.

A small number of retailers and distributors account for a substantial portion of our revenue, and if our relationships with any of these retailers or distributors were to be terminated or the level of business with them significantly reduced, our business could be harmed.

Our ten largest customers, measured by the revenue we derive from them, accounted for 44%, 42%, 51% and 51% of our revenue for 2011, 2012, 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, respectively. One retailer accounted for 15%, 15%, 17% and 13% of our revenue for 2011,

 

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2012, 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, respectively. One distributor accounted for 10% of our revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2014. The loss of a small number of our large customers, or the reduction in business with one or more of these customers, could have a significant adverse impact on our operating results. While we have agreements with these large customers, these agreements do not require them to purchase any meaningful amount of our products.

If we encounter problems with our distribution system, our ability to deliver our products to the market and to meet customer expectations could be harmed.

We rely on a select number of third-party distribution facilities for substantially all of our product distribution. Our distribution facilities include computer controlled and automated equipment, which means their operations may be vulnerable to computer viruses or other security risks, the proper operation of software and hardware, electronic or power interruptions or other system failures. Further, because substantially all of our products are distributed from only a few locations, our operations could be interrupted by labor difficulties, extreme or severe weather conditions, or floods, fires or other natural disasters near our distribution centers. If we encounter problems with our distribution system, our ability to meet customer expectations, manage inventory, complete sales and achieve our objectives for operating efficiencies could be harmed.

We are subject to international business uncertainties.

Revenue from outside the United States comprised 35%, 47%, 49% and 53% of our revenue in 2011, 2012, 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, respectively, and we expect this portion to increase in the future. Further, our supply chain partners have operations in countries including China, Singapore and the Netherlands. We intend to expand our relationships in these countries and may establish additional relationships in other countries to grow our operations. Operating in foreign countries requires significant resources and management attention, and we have limited experience entering new geographic markets. We cannot be assured that our international efforts will be successful. International sales and operations may be subject to risks such as:

 

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difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations;

 

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burdens of complying with a wide variety of laws and regulations;

 

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adverse tax effects and foreign exchange controls making it difficult to repatriate earnings and cash;

 

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political and economic instability;

 

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terrorist activities and natural disasters;

 

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trade restrictions;

 

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differing employment practices and laws and labor disruptions;

 

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the imposition of government controls;

 

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lesser degrees of intellectual property protection;

 

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tariffs and customs duties and the classifications of our goods by applicable governmental bodies;

 

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a legal system subject to undue influence or corruption; and

 

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a business culture in which illegal sales practices may be prevalent.

 

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The occurrence of any of these risks could negatively affect our international business and consequently our business, operating results and financial condition.

We may be subject to product liability or warranty claims that could result in significant direct or indirect costs, or we could experience greater returns from retailers than expected, which could harm our business and operating results.

We generally provide a 12-month warranty on all of our products, except in the European Union, or EU, where we provide a two-year warranty on all of our products. The occurrence of any material defects in our products could make us liable for damages and warranty claims in excess of our current reserves. In addition, we could incur significant costs to correct any defects, warranty claims or other problems, including costs related to product recalls. Any negative publicity related to the perceived quality of our products could affect our brand image, decrease retailer, distributor and customer demand, and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. Also, while our warranty is limited to repairs and returns, warranty claims may result in litigation, the occurrence of which could adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our intellectual property rights and proprietary rights may not adequately protect our products.

Our commercial success will depend substantially on our ability to obtain patents and other intellectual property rights and maintain adequate legal protection for our products in the United States and other countries. We will be able to protect our intellectual property from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that these assets are covered by valid and enforceable patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property rights, or are effectively maintained as trade secrets. As of the date of this filing, we have 42 issued patents and 72 patent applications pending in the United States and 15 corresponding issued patents and 12 patent applications pending in foreign jurisdictions. Our issued U.S. patents will expire between 2024 and 2032 and our issued foreign patents will expire between 2022 and 2038. We apply for patents covering our products, services, technologies and designs, as we deem appropriate. We may fail to apply for patents on important products, services, technologies or designs in a timely fashion, or at all. We do not know whether any of our patent applications will result in the issuance of any patents. Even if patents are issued, they may not be sufficient to protect our products, services, technologies, or designs. Our existing and future patents may not be sufficiently broad to prevent others from developing competing products, services technologies, or designs. No consistent policy regarding the breadth of patent claims has emerged to date in the United States and we expect the landscape for patent protection for our products, services technologies, and designs to continue to be uncertain. Intellectual property protection and patent rights outside of the United States are even less predictable. As a result, the validity and enforceability of patents cannot be predicted with certainty. Moreover, we cannot be certain whether:

 

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we were the first to conceive of or invent the inventions covered by each of our issued patents and pending patent applications;

 

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we were the first to reduce to practice inventions covered by each of our issued patents and pending patent applications;

 

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we were the first to file patent applications for these inventions;

 

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others will independently develop similar or alternative products, technologies, services or designs or duplicate any of our products, technologies, services or designs;

 

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any patents issued to us will provide us with any competitive advantages, or will be challenged by third parties;

 

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we will develop additional proprietary products, services, technologies or designs that are patentable; or

 

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the patents of others will have an adverse effect on our business.

The patents we own or license and those that may be issued to us in the future may be challenged, invalidated, rendered unenforceable or circumvented, and the rights granted under

any issued patents may not provide us with proprietary protection or competitive advantages. Moreover, third parties could practice our inventions in territories where we do not have patent protection or in territories where they could obtain a compulsory license to our technology where patented. Such third parties may then try to import products made using our inventions into the United States or other territories. Additional uncertainty may result from potential passage of patent legislation by the U.S. Congress, legal precedent by the U.S. Federal Circuit Courts and Supreme Court as they determine legal issues concerning the scope and construction of patent claims and inconsistent interpretation of patent laws by the lower courts. Accordingly, we cannot ensure that any of our pending patent applications will result in issued patents, or even if issued, predict the breadth, validity and enforceability of the claims upheld in our and other companies’ patents.

We have registered and applied to register certain of our trademarks in several jurisdictions worldwide. In some jurisdictions where we have applied to register our trademarks, other applications or registrations exist for the same, similar or otherwise related products or services. If we are not successful in arguing that there is no likelihood of confusion between our marks and the marks that are the subject of the other applications or registrations owned by third parties, our applications may be denied, preventing us from obtaining trademark registrations and adequate protection for our marks in the relevant jurisdictions, which could impact our ability to build our brand identity and market our products and services in those jurisdictions. Whether or not our application is denied, third parties may claim that our trademarks infringe their rights. As a result, we could be forced to pay significant settlement costs or cease the use of these trademarks and associated elements of our brand in the United States or other jurisdictions.

Even in those jurisdictions where we are able to register our trademarks, competitors may adopt or apply to register similar trademarks to ours, may register domain names that mimic ours or incorporate our trademarks, or may purchase keywords that are identical or confusingly similar to our brand names as terms in Internet search engine advertising programs, which could impede our ability to build our brand identity and lead to confusion among potential customers of our products and services. We believe that other companies have copied some of our trademarks for use in the marketplace. We have sent demand letters in a number of these instances, but there can be no assurance that we are aware of all such instances or that we will prevail should such letters be ineffective. If we are not successful in proving that we have prior rights in our marks and arguing that there is a likelihood of confusion between our marks and the marks of these third parties, our inability to prevent these third parties from continuing to use our marks or confusingly similar marks may negatively impact the strength, value and effectiveness of our brand names and our ability to market our products and prevent consumer confusion.

The laws of certain countries do not protect intellectual property and proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States and, therefore, in certain jurisdictions, we may be unable to protect our products, services, technologies and designs adequately against

 

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unauthorized third-party copying, infringement or use, which could adversely affect our competitive position. For instance, we are aware of cameras that have been designed and labeled to appear similar to our products, and are available for sale in countries within Asia, Europe and, to a lesser extent, the United States. To protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, we may initiate proceedings or litigation against third parties. Such proceedings or litigation may be necessary to protect our trade secrets or know-how, products, technologies, designs, brands, reputation, likeness, authorship works or other intellectual property rights. Such proceedings or litigation also may be necessary to determine the enforceability, scope and validity of the proprietary rights of others. Any proceedings or lawsuits that we initiate could be expensive, take significant time and divert management’s attention from other business concerns. Additionally, we may provoke third parties to assert claims against us. These claims could invalidate or narrow the scope of our own intellectual property rights. We may not prevail in any proceedings or lawsuits that we initiate and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may be commercially valuable. The occurrence of any of these events may adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our business may suffer if it is alleged or determined that our technology or another aspect of our business infringes the intellectual property rights of others.

The markets in which we compete are characterized by the existence of a large number of patents and trade secrets and also by litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. Moreover, in recent years, individuals and groups have purchased patents and other intellectual property assets for the purpose of making claims of infringement to extract settlements from companies like ours. From time to time, third parties have claimed that we are infringing upon their intellectual property rights or have offered licenses to us in respect of technology they own that may be infringed upon by our products, and we expect to continue to receive such claims or offers in the future. We are currently in receipt of letters of this nature in respect of which we have reached no resolution with the third-party sender. Also, third parties may make infringement claims against us that relate to technology developed and owned by one of our suppliers for which our suppliers may or may not indemnify us. Even if we are indemnified against such costs, the indemnifying party may be unable to uphold its contractual obligations and determining the scope of these obligations could require additional litigation. Claims of intellectual property infringement against us or our suppliers might require us to redesign our products, rebrand our services, enter into costly settlement or license agreements, pay costly damage awards or face a temporary or permanent injunction prohibiting us from marketing or selling our products or services. If we cannot or do not license the infringed intellectual property on reasonable terms or at all, or substitute similar intellectual property from another source, our revenue and operating results could be adversely impacted. Additionally, our customers, distributors and retailers may not purchase our offerings if they are concerned that they may infringe third-party intellectual property rights. Responding to such claims, regardless of their merit, can be time consuming, costly to defend in litigation, divert management’s attention and resources, damage our reputation and brand and cause us to incur significant expenses. The occurrence of any of these events may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

If we are unable to anticipate consumer preferences and successfully develop attractive products, we might not be able to maintain or increase our revenue and profitability.

Our success depends on our ability to identify and originate product trends as well as to anticipate and react to changing consumer demands in a timely manner. If we are unable to

 

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introduce new products or novel technologies in a timely manner or our new products or technologies are not accepted by consumers, our competitors may introduce more attractive products, which could hurt our competitive position. Our new products might not receive consumer acceptance if consumer preferences shift to other products, and our future success depends in part on our ability to anticipate and respond to these changes. Failure to anticipate and respond in a timely manner to changing consumer preferences could lead to, among other things, lower revenue and excess inventory levels.

As we continually seek to enhance our products, we may incur additional costs to incorporate new or revised features. We might not be able to, or determine that it is not in our interests to, raise prices to compensate for these additional costs. For example, our gross profit declined as a percentage of revenue in 2012 and 2013 compared to the prior year periods due, in part, to the additional costs of incorporating new functionality into our newest generation of products.

If we encounter issues with our manufacturers, our business, brand and results of operations could be harmed and we could lose sales.

We do not have internal manufacturing capabilities and rely primarily on two contract manufacturers, Chicony Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sky Light Digital Limited/Sky Light Industrial Limited, to manufacture our products. We cannot be certain that we will not experience operational difficulties with our manufacturers, including reductions in the availability of production capacity, errors in complying with product specifications, insufficient quality control, failures to meet production deadlines, increases in manufacturing costs and increased lead times. Additionally, our manufacturers may experience disruptions in their manufacturing operations due to equipment breakdowns, labor strikes or shortages, component or material shortages, cost increases or other similar problems. Further, in order to minimize their inventory risk, our manufacturers might not order components from third-party suppliers with adequate lead time, thereby impacting our ability to meet our demand forecast. Therefore, if we fail to manage our relationship with our manufacturers effectively, or if they experience operational difficulties, our ability to ship products to our retailers and distributors could be impaired and our competitive position and reputation could be harmed.

In the event that we receive shipments of products that fail to comply with our technical specifications or that fail to conform to our quality control standards, and we are not able to obtain replacement products in a timely manner, we risk revenue losses from the inability to sell those products, increased administrative and shipping costs, and lower profitability. Additionally, if defects are not discovered until after customers purchase our products, our customers could lose confidence in the technical attributes of our products and our business could be harmed.

We do not control our contract manufacturers or suppliers, or require them to comply with a formal code of conduct, and actions that they might take could harm our reputation and sales.

We do not control our contract manufacturers or suppliers, including their labor, environmental or other practices, or require them to comply with a formal code of conduct. Though we conduct periodic audits of our contract manufacturers’ and suppliers’ compliance with applicable laws and good industry practices, these audits may not be frequent or thorough enough to detect non-compliance. A violation of labor, environmental or other laws by our contract manufacturers or suppliers, or a failure of these parties to follow ethical business practices, could lead to negative publicity and harm our reputation. In addition, we may choose to seek alternative manufacturers or suppliers if these violations or failures were to occur. Identifying and qualifying new manufacturers or suppliers can be time consuming and we might not be able to substitute

 

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suitable alternatives in a timely manner or at an acceptable cost. Other consumer products companies have faced significant criticism for the actions of their manufacturers and suppliers, and we could face such criticism ourselves. Any of these events could adversely affect our brand, harm our reputation, reduce demand for our products and harm our ability to meet demand if we need to identify alternative manufacturers or suppliers.

Our growth depends in part on our penetrating additional consumer markets, and we may not be successful in doing so.

Our initial growth has largely been fueled by the adoption of our products by people looking to self-capture images of themselves participating in exciting physical activities. We believe that our future growth depends not only on continuing to reach this core demographic, but also broaden our customer base to include a more diverse group of consumers seeking to capture themselves, family members and things around them in their daily lives. While we are investing in sales and marketing activities to reach this expanded market, we cannot be assured that we will be successful in doing so. If we are not successful in penetrating additional consumer markets, we might not be able to grow our market share and revenue.

We plan to continue to invest in the further development of a content management platform and the acquisition and distribution of content, and we might not be successful in doing so.

We believe that enabling consumers to easily manage, share and enjoy their GoPro content will increase consumer interest in our products, and we intend to continue to invest in improving our software offerings and the further development of our content management platform to assist consumers with these tasks. The development of these software offerings and other tools needed for these purposes requires different skills from our historical core focus of developing capture devices.

We are investing to scale GoPro as a media entity and develop new revenue opportunities by increasing production of GoPro originally produced content while simultaneously increasing the aggregation and redistribution of our customers’ “best of” UGC. Additionally, we are investing to develop and distribute the GoPro Channel on more partner platforms such as Xbox Live and Virgin America. The execution of this business strategy requires different skills from our historical core focus of developing capture devices.

To achieve our goals, we have recently hired personnel with what we believe are requisite skills and experience to execute on these plans, and we continue to seek additional personnel with these skills. We cannot be assured of our ability to organize, manage and execute these relatively new functions within our business. If we are not successful, we may not achieve our goals of facilitating greater consumer use of their content and scaling GoPro as a media entity, and we might not recover the investments we make in these efforts, which could adversely affect our business and operating results.

We may acquire other businesses or receive offers to be acquired, which could require significant management attention, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value and adversely affect our operating results.

As part of our business strategy, we may selectively make investments in or acquire other companies, products or technologies. We may not be able to find suitable acquisition candidates and we may not be able to complete acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. If we do complete acquisitions, we may not ultimately strengthen our competitive position or achieve our goals, and any acquisitions we complete could be viewed negatively by users or investors. In addition,

 

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if we fail to integrate successfully such acquisitions, or the technologies associated with such acquisitions, into our company, the revenue and operating results of the combined company could be adversely affected. Acquisitions may disrupt our ongoing operations, divert management from their primary responsibilities, subject us to additional liabilities, increase our expenses and adversely impact our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows. We may not successfully evaluate or utilize the acquired technology and accurately forecast the financial impact of an acquisition transaction, including accounting charges. We may have to pay cash, incur debt or issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition, each of which could affect our financial condition or the value of our capital stock. The sale of equity or issuance of debt to finance any such acquisitions could result in dilution to our stockholders. If we incur more debt it would result in increased fixed obligations and could also subject us to covenants or other restrictions that would impede our ability to manage our operations. In addition, our future operating results may be impacted by performance earnouts or contingent bonuses. Furthermore, acquisitions may require large one-time charges and can result in increased debt or contingent liabilities, adverse tax consequences, additional stock-based compensation expense and the recording and subsequent amortization or impairments of amounts related to certain purchased intangible assets, any of which could negatively impact our future results of operations. We may also record goodwill in connection with an acquisition and incur goodwill impairment charges in the future. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected revenue, we may be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Failure to obtain new, and maintain existing, high-quality event, athlete and celebrity sponsorships could harm our business.

Establishing relationships with high profile sporting events, athletes and celebrity personalities to evaluate, promote and establish product credibility with consumers, including entering into sponsorship and licensing agreements, has and will continue to be a key element of our marketing strategy. However, as competition in the camera and video recorder markets has increased, the costs of obtaining and retaining event, athlete and celebrity sponsorships and licensing agreements have increased. If we are unable to maintain our current associations with our event, athlete and celebrity partners, or to do so at a reasonable cost, we could lose the benefits of these relationships, and we may be required to modify and substantially increase our marketing investments. In addition, actions taken by endorsers of our products that harm their reputations could also harm our brand image with consumers. The failure to correctly identify high impact events, promising athletes or other appealing personalities to use and endorse our products, or poor performance by our endorsers, could adversely affect our brand and result in decreased sales of our products.

If we are unable to maintain or acquire rights to include intellectual property owned by others in the content distributed by us, our marketing, sales or future business strategy could be affected or we could be subject to lawsuits relating to our use of this content.

The distribution of GoPro content helps to market our brand and our products. If we cannot continue to acquire rights to distribute UGC or acquire rights to use and distribute music, athlete and celebrity names and likenesses or other content for our original productions or for our GoPro Studio Edit Templates, our marketing efforts could be diminished, our sales could be harmed and our future content strategy could be adversely affected. In addition, third-party content providers may allege that we have violated their intellectual property rights. If we are unable to obtain sufficient rights, successfully defend our use of or otherwise alter our business practices on a timely basis in response to claims of infringement, misappropriation, misuse or other violation

 

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of third-party intellectual property rights, our business may be adversely affected. As a distributor of content, we face potential liability for negligence, copyright, or trademark infringement or other claims based on the nature and content of materials that we distribute. If we are found to be liable for infringement, then our business may suffer.

If our customers are not satisfied with our technical support or software updates, they may choose not to purchase our products, either of which would adversely impact our business and operating results.

Our business relies, in part, on our customers’ satisfaction with the technical support and software updates we provide to support our products. If we fail to provide technical support services that are responsive, satisfy our customers’ expectations and resolve issues that they encounter with our products, customers may choose not to purchase additional products and we may face brand and reputational harm, which could adversely affect our operating results.

We could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act or similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions in which we operate.

The global nature of our business and the significance of our international revenue create various domestic and local regulatory challenges and subject us to risks associated with our international operations. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, or the U.K. Bribery Act, and similar anti-bribery and anticorruption laws in other jurisdictions generally prohibit U.S.-based companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to non-U.S. officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business, directing business to another, or securing an advantage. In addition, U.S. public companies are required to maintain records that accurately and fairly represent their transactions and have an adequate system of internal accounting controls. Under the FCPA, U.S. companies may be held liable for the corrupt actions taken by directors, officers, employees, agents, or other strategic or local partners or representatives. As such, if we or our intermediaries fail to comply with the requirements of the FCPA or similar legislation, governmental authorities in the United States and elsewhere could seek to impose substantial civil and/or criminal fines and penalties which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, operating results and financial condition.

We operate in areas of the world that experience corruption by government officials to some degree and, in certain circumstances, compliance with anti-bribery and anticorruption laws may conflict with local customs and practices. Our global operations require us to import and export to and from several countries, which geographically expands our compliance obligations. In addition, changes in such laws could result in increased regulatory requirements and compliance costs which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot be assured that our employees or other agents will not engage in prohibited conduct and render us responsible under the FCPA or the U.K. Bribery Act. If we are found to be in violation of the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act or other anti-bribery or anticorruption laws (either due to acts or inadvertence of our employees, or due to the acts or inadvertence of others), we could suffer criminal or civil penalties or other sanctions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are subject to governmental export and import controls and economic sanctions laws that could subject us to liability and impair our ability to compete in international markets.

The U.S. and various foreign governments have imposed controls, export license requirements and restrictions on the import or export of some technologies. Our products are subject to U.S. export controls, including the Commerce Department’s Export Administration Regulations and

 

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various economic and trade sanctions regulations established by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls, and exports of our products must be made in compliance with these laws. Furthermore, U.S. export control laws and economic sanctions prohibit the provision of products and services to countries, governments, and persons targeted by U.S. sanctions. Even though we take precautions to prevent our products from being provided to targets of U.S. sanctions, our products, including our firmware updates, could be provided to those targets or provided by our customers despite such precautions. Any such provision could have negative consequences, including government investigations, penalties and reputational harm. Our failure to obtain required import or export approval for our products could harm our international and domestic sales and adversely affect our revenue.

In 2014, we determined that we may have shipped some products to international customers that, prior to shipment, may have required either a one-time product review or application for an encryption registration number in lieu of such product review. We have since acquired the appropriate encryption registration number. We also recently determined that we provided controlled technology to our offshore manufacturing partners without the required export licenses and have submitted an export license application for the export of controlled technology to our offshore manufacturing partners. We have made an initial voluntary submission to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security to report these potential violations and are in the process of preparing a supplemental disclosure.

We also discovered in 2014 potential sanctions violations involving transactions with sanctioned parties, the provision of support services to persons in an embargoed country, and firmware updates to persons in several embargoed countries. Upon learning of these transactions and associated export control requirements, we promptly initiated an internal investigation and are taking remedial measures to prevent similar export control violations from occurring in the future. We have made an initial voluntary submission to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to report these potential violations and are preparing a supplemental or update disclosure.

While we do not expect the subject matters of our voluntary submissions to have a material effect on our business or operating results, they could result in penalties, costs, and restrictions on export privileges.

Our effective tax rate and the intended tax benefits of our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements depend on the application of the tax laws of various jurisdictions and on how we operate our business.

The application of the tax laws of various jurisdictions, including the United States, to our international business activities is subject to interpretation and depends on operating our business in a manner consistent with our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements. The taxing authorities of the jurisdictions in which we operate may challenge our methods for valuing technology, intercompany arrangements, including our transfer pricing, or our current or historical tax positions, including with respect to research and development tax credits and our prior status as an S corporation. Any such challenge could be costly and time consuming to defend and may increase our worldwide effective tax rate, and consequently adversely affect our financial position and results of operations. In order to effectively structure and execute our international operations we will need to continue to hire, train and manage qualified personnel. If our new hires underperform, or if we are unsuccessful in hiring, training, managing and integrating these new employees, our business may be adversely affected.

 

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Our corporate structure includes legal entities located in jurisdictions with income tax rates lower than the U.S. statutory tax rate. Our intercompany arrangements result in income earned by such entities in accordance with arm’s-length principles and commensurate with functions performed, risks assumed and ownership of valuable corporate assets. We believe that income taxed in certain foreign jurisdictions at a lower rate relative to the U.S. statutory rate will have a beneficial impact on our worldwide effective tax rate.

Significant judgment is required in evaluating our tax positions and determining our provision for income taxes. During the ordinary course of business, there are many transactions and calculations for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. For example, our effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory rates, by changes in foreign currency exchange rates or by changes in the relevant tax, accounting and other laws, regulations, principles and interpretations. As we operate in numerous taxing jurisdictions, the application of tax laws can be subject to diverging and sometimes conflicting interpretations by tax authorities of these jurisdictions. It is not uncommon for taxing authorities in different countries to have conflicting views, for instance, with respect to, among other things, the manner in which the arm’s-length standard is applied for transfer pricing purposes, or with respect to the valuation of intellectual property. In addition, tax laws are dynamic and subject to change as new laws are passed and new interpretations of the law are issued or applied. In particular, there is uncertainty in relation to the U.S. tax legislation in terms of the future corporate tax rate but also in terms of the U.S. tax consequences of income derived from intellectual property held in foreign jurisdictions.

Our existing corporate structure and intercompany arrangements have been implemented in a manner that we believe complies with current tax laws. However, our tax liabilities may be adversely affected if such structure and arrangements are challenged by a taxing authority or we are unable to appropriately adapt the manner in which we operate our business or if tax laws change.

An economic downturn or economic uncertainty in our key markets may adversely affect consumer discretionary spending and demand for our products.

Our products are discretionary items for consumers. Factors affecting the level of consumer spending for such discretionary items include general market conditions, macroeconomic conditions and other factors such as consumer confidence, the availability and cost of consumer credit, levels of unemployment and tax rates. As global economic conditions continue to be volatile or economic uncertainty remains, trends in consumer discretionary spending also remain unpredictable and subject to reductions due to credit constraints and uncertainties about the future. Unfavorable economic conditions may lead consumers to delay or reduce purchases of our products. Consumer demand for our products may not reach our sales targets, or may decline, when there is an economic downturn or economic uncertainty. Our sensitivity to economic cycles and any related fluctuation in consumer demand could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We have previously identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, and if we are unable to maintain effective internal controls, we may not be able to produce timely and accurate financial statements, and we or our independent registered public accounting firm may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective, which could adversely impact our investors’ confidence and our stock price.

Prior to this offering, we were a private company and were not required to test our internal controls on a systematic basis. Our independent registered public accounting firm will not be

 

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required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until the later of (1) the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC, or (2) the date we are no longer an “Emerging Growth Company” as defined in the recently enacted Jumpstart our Business Startups Act of 2012, or JOBS Act, if we take advantage of the exemptions contained in the JOBS Act. We anticipate that after the completion of this offering and upon the expiration of available exemptions, pursuant to Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we will be required to evaluate and determine the effectiveness, provide a management report and be subject to attestation of our internal control over financial reporting, beginning with our annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015.

In connection with the preparation of our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2012, we, in conjunction with our independent registered public accounting firm, identified a material weakness in the design and operating effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. A “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weakness primarily comprised deficiencies related to a lack of technical accounting skills, monitoring activities and a lack of adequate review processes and controls within our accounting and finance organization. During 2013, we took certain actions that remediated the material weakness, which included hiring management level personnel with technical accounting expertise, designing adequate review and monitoring procedures in our accounting and finance organization, and identifying and implementing improved processes and controls.

Further, we are in the process of designing and implementing the system of internal control over financial reporting required to comply with our future obligations and to strengthen our overall control environment. This initiative will be time consuming, costly, and might place significant demands on our financial and operational resources, as well as our IT systems.

Our current efforts to design and implement an effective control environment may not be sufficient to remediate or prevent future material weaknesses or significant deficiencies from occurring. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and all instances of fraud will be detected. If we identify future material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting, if we are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a timely manner, if we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting are effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, if and when required, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our Class A common stock could be negatively affected, and we could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities.

We have experienced rapid growth in recent periods. If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our financial performance may suffer.

We have experienced rapid growth over the last several years, which has placed a strain on our managerial, operational, research and development, sales and marketing, administrative and

 

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financial infrastructure. For example, we increased our total number of full-time employees from 49 as of December 31, 2010 to 718 as of March 31, 2014. We have also established operations in other countries. Our expansion has placed, and our expected future growth will continue to place, a significant strain on our managerial, operational, research and development, sales and marketing, administrative, financial and other resources.

Our success will depend in part upon our ability to manage our growth effectively. To do so, we must continue to increase the productivity of our existing employees and to hire, train and manage new employees as needed. To manage domestic and international growth of our operations and personnel, we will need to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls and our reporting processes and procedures, and implement more extensive and integrated financial and business information systems. These additional investments will increase our operating costs, which will make it more difficult for us to offset any future revenue shortfalls by reducing expenses in the short term. Moreover, if we fail to scale our operations or manage our growth successfully, our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.

Consumers may be injured while engaging in activities that they self-capture with our products, and we may be exposed to claims, or regulations could be imposed, which could adversely affect our brand, operating results and financial condition.

Consumers use our cameras and accessories to self-capture their participation in a wide variety of physical activities, including extreme sports, which in many cases carry the risk of significant injury. We may be subject to claims if consumers are injured while using our products. Although we maintain insurance to help protect us from the risk of any such claims, such insurance may not be sufficient or may not to apply to all situations. Similarly, proprietors of establishments at which consumers engage in challenging physical activities could seek to ban the use of our products in their facilities to limit their own liability. In addition, if lawmakers or governmental agencies were to determine that the use of our products increased the risk of injury to all or a subset of our customers, they may pass laws or adopt regulations that limit the use of our products or increase our liability associated with the use of our products. Any of these events could adversely affect our brand, operating results or financial condition.

If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect, our operating results could be adversely affected.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in the section titled “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations.” The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities and equity, and the amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our operating results may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our operating results to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in our stock price. Significant assumptions and estimates used in preparing our consolidated financial statements include those related to revenue recognition, sales incentives, stock-based compensation expense, POP displays, excess and obsolete inventory

 

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write-downs, warranty reserves, long-lived assets and accounting for income taxes including deferred tax assets and liabilities.

Our credit facility provides our lenders with a first-priority lien against substantially all of our assets and contains financial covenants and other restrictions on our actions that may limit our operational flexibility or otherwise adversely affect our financial condition.

In December 2012, we entered into a senior secured credit agreement, including a $120.0 million term loan that we expect to repay with the proceeds of this offering and a $50.0 million revolving credit facility that we expect to retain. Our credit agreement contains a number of restrictive covenants, and the terms of our credit facility may restrict our current and future operations, particularly our ability to respond to certain changes or to take future actions.

A failure by us to comply with the covenants or payment requirements specified in our credit agreement could result in an event of default under the agreement, which would give the lenders the right to terminate their commitments to provide additional loans under our revolving credit facility and to declare all borrowings outstanding, together with accrued and unpaid interest and fees, to be immediately due and payable. In addition, the lenders would have the right to proceed against the collateral we granted to them, which consists of substantially all our assets. If the debt under our credit facility were to be accelerated, we may not have sufficient cash or be able to sell sufficient collateral to repay this debt, which would have an immediate material adverse affect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are exposed to increased regulatory oversight and incur increased costs as a result of being a public company.

As a public company, we are required to satisfy the listing requirements and rules of the NASDAQ Stock Market and incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. For example, we will incur costs associated with our public company reporting requirements and corporate governance requirements, including additional directors and officers liability insurance and requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules implemented by the SEC and the NASDAQ Stock Market. These rules and regulations have increased, and will continue to increase, our legal and financial compliance costs and have made, and will continue to make, certain activities more time consuming and costly. Further, we have incurred costs in connection with hiring additional accounting, financial and compliance staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge. Any of these expenses could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We use open source software in our platform that may subject our technology to general release or require us to re-engineer our solutions, which may cause harm to our business.

We use open source software in connection with our services. From time to time, companies that incorporate open source software into their products have faced claims challenging the ownership of open source software and/or compliance with open source license terms. Therefore, we could be subject to suits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software or noncompliance with open source licensing terms. Some open source software licenses require users who distribute or make available open source software as part of their software to publicly disclose all or part of the source code to such software and/or make available any derivative works of the open source code on unfavorable terms or at no cost. While we monitor our use of open source software and try to ensure that none is used in a manner that would require us to disclose the source code or that would otherwise breach the terms of an open

 

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source agreement, such use could nevertheless occur and we may be required to release our proprietary source code, pay damages for breach of contract, re-engineer our applications, discontinue sales in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished on a timely basis or take other remedial action that may divert resources away from our development efforts, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or operating results.

Any significant disruption to our ecommerce business could result in lost sales.

Our sales through our ecommerce channel have been growing. Sales through gopro.com generally have higher profit margins and provide us useful insight on the sales impact of certain of our marketing campaigns. Online sales are subject to a number of risks. System interruptions or delays could cause potential customers to fail to purchase our products and could harm our brand. The operation of our direct to consumer ecommerce business through gopro.com depends on the ability to maintain the efficient and uninterrupted operation of online order-taking and fulfillment operations. Our ecommerce operations subject us to certain risks that could have an adverse effect on our operating results, including risks related to the computer systems that operate our website and related support systems, such as system failures, viruses, computer hackers and similar disruptions. If we are unable to continually add software and hardware, effectively upgrade our systems and network infrastructure and take other steps to improve the efficiency of our systems, system interruptions or delays could occur that adversely affect our operating results.

We utilize third party vendors for our customer-facing ecommerce technology, order management system and fulfillment in the United States and internationally. We depend on our technology vendors to manage “up-time” of the front-end ecommerce store, manage the intake of our orders, and export orders for fulfillment. In the future, we could begin to run all or a greater portion of our ecommerce components ourselves rather than use third party vendors. Any failure on the part of our third party ecommerce vendors or in our ability to transition third party services effectively could result in lost sales and harm our business.

Failure to adequately protect customer data could harm our brand and our reputation in the marketplace.

Changing regulations and laws governing the Internet, data privacy, data protection and ecommerce transactions (including taxation, pricing and electronic communications) could impede the growth of our ecommerce business, increase our cost of doing business and limit our ability to collect and use information collected from our customers. Further, new regulations limiting our ability to collect, use and disclose customer data, or imposing additional requirements with respect to the retention and security of customer data, could limit our marketing activities and could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

In our ecommerce services, we process, store and transmit customer data. We also collect customer data through certain marketing activities. Failure to prevent or mitigate data loss or other security breaches, including breaches of our vendors’ technology and systems, could expose us or our customers to a risk of loss or misuse of such information, adversely affect our operating results, result in litigation or potential liability for us and otherwise harm our business. Further, we are subject to general business regulations and laws, as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet, ecommerce and electronic devices. Existing and future laws and regulations, or new interpretations of these laws, may adversely affect our ability to conduct our ecommerce business.

 

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If we fail to comply with environmental requirements, our business, financial condition, operating results and reputation could be adversely affected.

We are subject to various environmental laws and regulations including laws governing the hazardous material content of our products and laws relating to the collection of and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment. Examples of these laws and regulations include the EU Restrictions of Hazardous Substances Directive, or the RoHS Directive, and the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, or the WEEE Directive, as well as the implementing legislation of the EU member states. Similar laws and regulations have been passed or are pending in China, South Korea, Norway and Japan and may be enacted in other regions, including in the United States, and we are, or may in the future be, subject to these laws and regulations.

The RoHS Directive and the similar laws of other jurisdictions ban the use of certain hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and cadmium in the manufacture of electrical equipment, including our products. Although we have policies and procedures in place requiring our contract manufacturers and major component suppliers to comply with the RoHS Directive requirements, we cannot assure you that our manufacturers and suppliers consistently comply with these requirements. In addition, if there are changes to these or other laws (or their interpretation) or if new similar laws are passed in other jurisdictions, we may be required to re-engineer our products to use components compatible with these regulations. This re-engineering and component substitution could result in additional costs to us or disrupt our operations or logistics.

The WEEE Directive requires electronic goods producers to be responsible for the collection, recycling and treatment of such products. Changes in interpretation of the directive may cause us to incur costs or have additional regulatory requirements to meet in the future in order to comply with this directive, or with any similar laws adopted in other jurisdictions. Our failure to comply with past, present and future similar laws could result in reduced sales of our products, substantial product inventory write-offs, reputational damage, penalties and other sanctions, which could harm our business and financial condition. We also expect that our products will be affected by new environmental laws and regulations on an ongoing basis. To date, our expenditures for environmental compliance have not had a material impact on our results of operations or cash flows and, although we cannot predict the future impact of such laws or regulations, they will likely result in additional costs and may increase penalties associated with violations or require us to change the content of our products or how they are manufactured, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

New regulations related to conflict minerals may cause us to incur additional expenses and could limit the supply and increase the costs of certain metals used in the manufacturing of our products.

As a public company, we will be subject to new requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, or the Dodd-Frank Act, that will require us to diligence, disclose and report whether or not our products contain conflict minerals. The implementation of these new requirements could adversely affect the sourcing, availability and pricing of the materials used in the manufacture of components used in our products. In addition, we will incur additional costs to comply with the disclosure requirements, including costs related to conducting diligence procedures to determine the sources of conflict minerals that may be used or necessary to the production of our products and, if applicable, potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification

 

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activities. It is also possible that we may face reputational harm if we determine that certain of our products contain minerals not determined to be conflict free or if we are unable to alter our products, processes or sources of supply to avoid such materials.

As an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act, we are permitted to, and intend to, rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements.

As an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act, we are permitted to, and intend to, rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements. In particular, we have not included all of the executive compensation related information that would be required in this prospectus if we were not an emerging growth company. In addition, for so long as we are an emerging growth company, which can last, at most, until the first fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of this offering, we will not be required to:

 

Ÿ

have an auditor report on our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;

 

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comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis); and

 

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submit certain executive compensation matters to shareholder advisory votes, such as “say on pay” and “say on frequency.”

Although we intend to rely on certain exemptions provided in the JOBS Act, the exact implications of the JOBS Act for us are still subject to interpretations and guidance by the SEC and other regulatory agencies. Also, as our business grows, we may no longer satisfy the condition of an emerging growth company. We will remain an emerging growth company until the first fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of this offering, although if the market value of our Class A and Class B common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700.0 million as of June 30th of any year before the end of that five-year period, we would cease to be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31st. If we have more than $1.0 billion in annual revenue in a fiscal year, we would cease to be an emerging growth company as of the end of that fiscal year, and if we issue more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt over a three-year period, we would also cease to be an emerging growth company immediately. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these new rules and we cannot assure you that we will be able to enjoy part or all of the benefits from the JOBS Act. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of the JOBS Act accommodation allowing for delayed adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and, therefore, we will be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

We may not be able to secure additional financing on favorable terms, or at all, to meet our future capital needs.

In the future, we may require additional capital to respond to business opportunities, challenges, acquisitions or unforeseen circumstances and may determine to engage in equity or debt financings or enter into credit facilities for other reasons. We may not be able to timely secure additional debt or equity financing on favorable terms, or at all. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or convertible debt or other equity-linked securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution. Any debt financing obtained by us in the future

 

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could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, when we require it, our ability to continue to grow or support our business and to respond to business challenges could be significantly limited.

Catastrophic events or political instability could disrupt and cause harm to our business.

Our headquarters is located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, an area susceptible to earthquakes. A major earthquake or other natural disaster, fire, act of terrorism or other catastrophic event in California or elsewhere that results in the destruction or disruption of any of our critical business operations or information technology systems could severely affect our ability to conduct normal business operations and, as a result, our future operating results could be harmed.

Our key manufacturing, supply and distribution partners have global operations including in China, Singapore and the Netherlands as well as the United States. Political instability or catastrophic events in any of those countries could adversely affect our business in the future, our financial condition and operating results.

Risks related to this offering

There has been no prior market for our Class A common stock, our stock price may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance, an active public trading market may not develop or be sustained following this offering, and you may not be able to resell your shares at or above the initial public offering price.

There has been no public market for our Class A common stock prior to this offering. The initial public offering price for our Class A common stock was determined through negotiations between the underwriters and us and may vary from the market price of our Class A common stock following this offering. If you purchase shares of our Class A common stock in this offering, you may not be able to resell those shares at or above the initial public offering price. An active market for our Class A common stock may not develop upon the closing of this offering or, if it does develop, it may not be sustainable. The trading prices of the securities of newly public companies have historically been highly volatile. The market price of our Class A common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

 

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actual or anticipated fluctuations in our revenue and other operating results;

 

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the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in these projections or our failure to meet these projections;

 

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failure of securities analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by any securities analysts who follow our company, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;

 

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announcements by us or our competitors of significant technical innovations, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;

 

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changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of online marketing or other technology companies, or those in our industry in particular;

 

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lawsuits threatened or filed against us; and

 

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other events or factors, including those resulting from war, incidents of terrorism or responses to these events.

In addition, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. Stock prices of many companies have fluctuated in a manner unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In the past, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation following periods of market volatility. If we were to become involved in securities litigation, it could subject us to substantial costs, divert resources and the attention of management from our business and adversely affect our business.

Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public markets, or the perception that they might occur, could reduce the price that our Class A common stock might otherwise attain and may dilute your voting power and your ownership interest in us.

After the completion of the offering, based on 115,027,871 shares outstanding as of June 5, 2014 and after giving effect to the sale of 17,800,000 shares in this offering by us and the selling stockholders, the issuance of 2,476,548 shares of our Class B common stock upon the exercise of outstanding stock options by certain selling stockholders in connection with this offering and the contribution back to us by Mr. Woodman of 658,443 shares of our Class B common stock in respect of stock options exercised by a certain selling stockholder, we will have 125,745,976 outstanding shares of our Class A and Class B common stock. This number includes all the shares of our Class A common stock that we and the selling stockholders are selling in this offering, which may be resold immediately in the public market.

Subject to certain exceptions, we, all of our directors and officers and substantially all of our stockholders and option holders have agreed not to offer, sell or agree to sell, directly or indirectly, any shares of Class A or Class B common stock without the permission of the underwriters for a period of 180 days from the date of this prospectus, subject to extension in some circumstances. See “Shares eligible for future sale—Lock-up agreements” for additional information. After the lock-up agreements pertaining to this offering expire, we and our locked-up security holders will be able to sell our shares in the public market, subject to volume limitations under Rule 144 under the Securities Act and various vesting agreements. Sales of a substantial number of such shares upon expiration, or early release, of the lock-up (or the perception that such sales may occur) could cause our share price to fall.

The market price of the shares of our Class A common stock could decline as a result of sales of a substantial number of our shares in the public market or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell their shares.

The dual class structure of our common stock will have the effect of concentrating voting control with our Chief Executive Officer and other directors and their affiliates; this will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters.

Our Class B common stock has 10 votes per share, and our Class A common stock, which is the stock we are offering in this offering, has one vote per share. Stockholders who hold shares of Class B common stock will hold approximately 98.4% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock following this offering. Our executive officers and directors and their affiliates will hold approximately 72.8% of the outstanding voting power, with Mr. Woodman, our Chief Executive Officer, holding approximately 47.7% after his sale of 3,562,892 shares of Class A common stock in this offering, and, therefore, assuming no material sales of such shares, they will be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders, including the election of

 

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directors, amendments of our organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or other major corporate transaction. This concentrated control will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future. In addition, this may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our capital stock that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders.

We have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.

We intend to use a portion of our net proceeds that we receive from this offering for the repayment of our term loan under our credit facility, which had an outstanding balance of $111.0 million as of March 31, 2014. Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the remaining net proceeds that we receive from this offering, including applications for working capital, possible acquisitions and other general corporate purposes, and we may spend or invest these proceeds in a way with which our stockholders disagree. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could harm our business and financial condition. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from this offering in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value. These investments may not yield a favorable return to our investors.

If securities analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We currently do not have and may never obtain research coverage by securities analysts. If no securities analysts commence coverage of our company, the trading price for our stock would be negatively impacted. In the event we obtain securities analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which might cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.

We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.

We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not expect to declare or pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. As a result, you may only receive a return on your investment in our Class A common stock if the market price of our Class A common stock increases. Our credit agreement contains a prohibition on the payment of cash dividends on our capital stock.

If you purchase shares of our Class A common stock in this offering, you will experience substantial and immediate dilution.

If you purchase shares of our Class A common stock in this offering, you will experience substantial and immediate dilution of $21.83 in the net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering, based on the initial public offering price of $24.00 per share, because the price that you pay will be substantially greater than the net tangible book value per share of the Class A common stock that you acquire. This dilution is due in large part to the fact that our earlier stockholders paid substantially less than the initial public offering price when they purchased their shares of our capital stock. You will experience additional dilution upon exercise of options to purchase Class A or Class B common stock under our equity incentive plans or under equity awards granted outside our equity incentive plan, if we issue Class A or Class B

 

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common stock to our employees under our equity incentive plans or if we otherwise issue additional shares of our capital stock. See “Dilution” for further information.

Delaware law and provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws that will be in effect at the closing of this offering could make a merger, tender offer or proxy contest difficult, thereby depressing the trading price of our Class A common stock.

Following the closing of this offering, our status as a Delaware corporation and the anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder, even if a change in control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders. In addition, our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws that will be in effect at the closing of this offering will contain provisions that may make the acquisition of our company more difficult without the approval of our board of directors, or otherwise adversely affect the rights of the holders of our Class A and Class B common stock, including the following:

 

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initially our board of directors will not be classified, but at such time as all shares of our Class B common stock have been converted into shares of our Class A common stock, our board of directors will be classified into three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms;

 

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so long as any shares of our Class B common stock are outstanding, special meetings of our stockholders may be called by the holders of 10% of the outstanding voting power of all then outstanding shares of stock, a majority of our board of directors, the chairman of our board of directors, our chief executive office or our president, and thereafter only the chairman of our board of directors, our chief executive officer, our president or a majority of our board of directors will be authorized to call a special meeting of stockholders;

 

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our stockholders will only be able to take action at a meeting of stockholders and not by written consent;

 

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vacancies on our board of directors will be able to be filled only by our board of directors and not by stockholders;

 

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directors may be removed from office with or without cause so long as our board of directors is not classified, and thereafter directors may be removed from office only for cause;

 

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our restated certificate of incorporation provides for a dual class common stock structure in which holders of our Class B common stock will have the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if they own significantly less than a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class A and Class B common stock, including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or its assets;

 

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our restated certificate of incorporation will authorize undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which may be established, and shares of which may be issued, by our board of directors without stockholder approval and which may contain voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to those of our Class A and Class B common stock; and

 

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advance notice procedures will apply for stockholders to nominate candidates for election as directors or to bring matters before an annual meeting of stockholders.

For information regarding these and other provisions, see “Description of capital stock.”

 

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Special note regarding forward-looking statements and industry data

This prospectus contains forward looking statements that are based on our beliefs and assumptions regarding future events and circumstances, including statements regarding our strategies, our opportunities, developments in the markets in which we are active, our relationships with our customers, contract manufacturers, component suppliers and distributors and other matters. These statements are principally contained in the sections titled “Prospectus summary,” “Risk factors,” “Use of proceeds,” “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations,” “Business,” and “Shares eligible for future sale.” Forward looking statements include statements that are not historical facts and can be identified by words such as “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “continue,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “potentially,” “will” or “may,” or other similar words and phrases.

Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors include those we discuss in this prospectus in the section titled “Risk factors.” You should read these risk factors and the other cautionary statements made in this prospectus as being applicable to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this prospectus. It is not possible for us to predict all risks that could affect us, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. Moreover, new risks emerge from time to time.

The forward-looking statements made in this prospectus relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

You should read this prospectus and the documents we reference in this prospectus, and have filed with the SEC as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, with the understanding that our actual future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances may be materially different from what we expect.

In this prospectus, we refer to metrics related to our presence on third-party social media services, such as the number of “likes” on our Facebook page and the number of users who have shared videos on YouTube with “GoPro” in the title. These social media services generally have policies in place to discourage duplicative user accounts or artificial activity designed to inflate such metrics. We are unable to independently verify the metrics provided by these social media services. We are also unable to determine whether these figures include individuals with multiple accounts on one service, deactivated or inactive accounts, or multiple views, “likes” or similar actions by the same user. We have relied on the calculations and analysis conducted by these services to present metrics that, as closely as possible, reflect genuine users and legitimate user activity on their social media services.

This prospectus also contains estimates and other statistical data that we obtained from industry publications, surveys, forecasts and reports. These industry publications generally indicate that they have obtained their information from sources believed to be reliable, but do not guarantee the accuracy and completeness of their information. This information involves a number of

 

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assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to these estimates. Although we have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the data contained in these industry publications and reports, based on our industry experience we believe that the publications are reliable and the conclusions contained in the publications and reports are reasonable.

 

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Use of proceeds

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds of $195.6 million from the sale of the 8,900,000 shares of Class A common stock that we are selling in this offering, based on the initial public offering price of $24.00 per share and after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. We will also receive proceeds of $1.7 million from the exercise of stock options by certain selling stockholders in connection with this offering. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our Class A common stock by the selling stockholders.

The principal purposes of this offering are to repay our term loan under our credit facility, for general corporate purposes including working capital, to create a public market for our Class A common stock and to facilitate our future access to the public equity markets. At March 31, 2014, the outstanding balance of the term loan was $111.0 million and bore interest at the rate of 2.75% per annum. The term loan has scheduled quarterly principal repayments with the remaining balance due on December 21, 2015. See “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations—Liquidity and capital resources—Credit facility” for additional information regarding our term loan.

We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire or invest in complementary businesses, technologies or assets. However, we have no present commitments or agreements to enter into any acquisitions or make any investments.

Following the repayment of our term loan, our management will have significant flexibility in applying the remaining net proceeds from this offering, and investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of these net proceeds. Pending the uses described above, we intend to invest the net proceeds from this offering in short-term, interest-bearing obligations, investment-grade instruments, certificates of deposit or direct or guaranteed obligations of the U.S. government. The goal with respect to the investment of these net proceeds will be capital preservation and liquidity so that these funds are readily available to fund our operations.

 

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Dividend policy

On December 19, 2012, we declared a cash dividend pursuant to which each holder of our common stock and redeemable convertible preferred stock as of December 21, 2012 received $1.050965 for every share of our common stock then held by such stockholder (with each stockholder of redeemable convertible preferred stock being treated as holding the number of shares of common stock then issuable upon conversion of all shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock held by such stockholder). We do not currently intend to pay any cash dividends on our Class A common stock or Class B common stock for the foreseeable future. We expect to retain future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business. Any future determination to pay dividends on our Class A common stock or Class B common stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon, among other factors, our financial condition, operating results, current and anticipated cash needs, plans for expansion and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, our credit agreement restricts our ability to pay dividends.

 

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Capitalization

The following table sets forth our capitalization as of March 31, 2014:

 

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on an actual basis;

 

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on a pro forma basis to reflect the conversion of all outstanding shares of our redeemable convertible preferred stock into 30,523,036 shares of our common stock in connection with the closing of this offering;

 

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on a pro forma as adjusted basis to further reflect (i) the application of a portion of the proceeds of this offering to repay in full the outstanding balance of our term loan, which was $111.0 million at March 31, 2014, (ii) the redesignation of our currently outstanding common stock as Class B common stock, (iii) the issuance of 2,476,548 shares of our Class B common stock upon the exercise of outstanding stock options with an aggregate exercise price of $1.7 million by certain selling stockholders in connection with this offering and the contribution back to us by a stockholder of 658,443 shares of our Class B common stock in respect of stock options exercised by a certain selling stockholder, (iv) the conversion by the selling stockholders of 8,900,000 shares of our Class B common stock into the same number of shares of our Class A common stock in connection with the closing of this offering, (v) the sale by us of 8,900,000 shares of our Class A common stock in this offering at the initial public offering price of $24.00 per share, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, and (vi) the filing and effectiveness of our restated certificate of incorporation in connection with the closing of this offering.

You should read this table together with the section titled “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” and our financial statements, related notes and other financial information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

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		As of March 31, 2014
(in thousands, except share amounts) (unaudited)		Actual				Pro forma				Pro forma as adjusted
Long-term debt, including current portion			110,666				110,666				—
Redeemable convertible preferred stock, $0.0001 par value, 36,000,000 shares authorized, 30,523,036 shares issued and outstanding; no shares authorized, issued or outstanding, pro forma or pro forma as adjusted			77,213				—				—
Stockholders’ equity:
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; no shares authorized, issued or outstanding, actual; 5,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued or outstanding, pro forma and pro forma as adjusted			—				—				—
Common stock, $0.0001 par value, 150,000,000 shares authorized, 81,899,442 shares issued and outstanding, actual; 112,422,478 shares issued and outstanding, pro forma; no shares authorized or issued and outstanding, pro forma as adjusted			8				11				—
Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, no shares authorized or issued and outstanding, actual; no shares issued and outstanding, pro forma; 655,000,000 shares authorized, 17,800,000 shares issued and outstanding, pro forma as adjusted			—				—				2
Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value, no shares authorized or issued and outstanding, actual; no shares issued and outstanding, pro forma; 150,000,000 shares authorized, 105,340,583 shares issued and outstanding, pro forma as adjusted			—				—				10
Additional paid-in capital			19,218				96,428				293,770
Accumulated deficit			(8,835	)			(8,835	)			(9,886	)(1)
Total stockholders’ equity			10,391				87,604				283,896
Total capitalization		$	198,270			$	198,270			$	283,896

 

(1)

Pro forma as adjusted accumulated deficit includes charges to reflect the accelerated amortization of the debt discount and issuance costs to interest expense due to the repayment of the term loan.

The number of shares of our Class A and Class B common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on (i) 112,422,478 shares of common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2014, (ii) the exercise of stock options for the purchase of 2,476,548 shares of Class B common stock by certain selling stockholders and the conversion of such shares into the same number of shares of Class A common stock for sale in this offering and (iii) the contribution of 658,443 shares of Class B common stock by Mr. Woodman to us in respect of stock options exercised by a certain selling stockholder and excludes:

 

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27,798,919 shares of Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding as of March 31, 2014 with a weighted average exercise price of $3.24 per share (other than the shares to be sold in this offering by certain selling stockholders upon the exercise of stock options) and 570,000 shares of Class B common stock issuable pursuant to RSUs outstanding as of March 31, 2014 under our 2010 Plan;

 

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The effect of the contribution back to us of a number of shares of Class B common stock equal to the number of shares we issue upon exercise of an outstanding option for the purchase of

 

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6,584,427 shares of Class B common stock (other than those shares of Class B common stock contributed back to us in respect of stock options exercised by a certain selling stockholder); see “Certain relationships and related person transactions - Equity grants and contribution agreement;”

 

Ÿ

3,063,915 shares of Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options granted after March 31, 2014 with a weighted average exercise price of $18.24 per share and 4,750,379 shares of Class B common stock issuable upon settlement of RSUs granted after March 31, 2014;

 

Ÿ

398,121 shares of Class B common stock subject to a right of repurchase by us outstanding as of March 31, 2014;

 

Ÿ

13,470,229 shares reserved for future issuance under our 2014 Plan, which became effective on the date immediately prior to the date of this prospectus, and at which time any remaining shares available for issuance under our 2010 Plan were added to the shares reserved under our 2014 Plan and we ceased granting awards under our 2010 Plan; and

 

Ÿ

3,367,557 shares reserved for future issuance under our ESPP, which became effective on the date of this prospectus.

Our 2014 Plan and ESPP also provide for automatic annual increases in the number of shares reserved under the plans each year, as more fully described in “Executive compensation—Employee benefit plans.”

 

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Dilution

If you invest in our Class A common stock in this offering, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share of our Class A common stock and the net tangible book value of our Class A and Class B common stock per share immediately after this offering. As of March 31, 2014, our pro forma net tangible book value was $67.5 million, or $0.60 per share. Pro forma net tangible book value per share represents the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities, divided by the number of our outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock, after giving effect to the conversion of all outstanding shares of our redeemable convertible preferred stock into shares of our common stock in connection with the closing of this offering.

After giving further effect to (i) the application of a portion of the proceeds of this offering to repay in full the outstanding balance of our term loan, which was $111.0 million as of March 31, 2014, (ii) the redesignation of our currently outstanding common stock as Class B common stock, (iii) the issuance of 2,476,548 shares of our Class B common stock upon the exercise of outstanding stock options with an aggregate exercise price of $1.7 million by certain selling stockholders in connection with this offering and the contribution back to us by a stockholder of 658,443 shares of our Class B common stock in respect of options exercised by a selling stockholder, (iv) the conversion by the selling stockholders of 8,900,000 shares of our Class B common stock into the same number of shares of our Class A common stock immediately prior to the completion of this offering, (v) the sale by us of 8,900,000 shares of our Class A common stock in this offering at the initial public offering price of $24.00 per share, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, and (vi) the filing and effectiveness of our restated certificate of incorporation in connection with the closing of this offering, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of March 31, 2014 would have been $266.8 million or $2.17 per share. This represents an immediate increase in pro forma net tangible book value of $1.57 per share to existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of $21.83 per share to new investors purchasing shares of Class A common stock at the initial public offering price. The following table illustrates this per share dilution:

 

Initial public offering price per share of our Class A common stock						$	24.00
Pro forma net tangible book value per share as of March 31, 2014		$	0.60
Increase in pro forma net tangible book value per share attributable to new investors			1.57
Pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering							2.17
Dilution per share to new investors						$	21.83

 

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The following table summarizes, as of March 31, 2014, on the pro forma as adjusted basis described above, the difference between our existing stockholders and the purchasers of shares of Class A common stock in this offering with respect to the number of shares of Class A common stock purchased from us, the total consideration paid to us and the average price paid per share paid to us, based on the initial public offering price of $24.00 per share, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us:

 

		Shares purchased								Total consideration								Average price per share
		Number				Percent				Amount				Percent
Existing stockholders			114,240,583				92.8%			$	25,012,709				10.5%			$	0.22
New investors			8,900,000				7.2				213,600,000				89.5				24.00
Total			123,140,583				100.0%			$	238,612,709				100.0%

The foregoing table does not reflect any sales by existing stockholders in this offering. The sale of 8,900,000 shares of Class A common stock to be sold by the selling stockholders in this offering will reduce the number of shares held by existing stockholders to 105,340,583 shares, or 85.5% of the total shares outstanding, and will increase the number of shares held by investors participating in this offering to 17,800,000 shares, or 14.5% of the total shares outstanding.

If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, the number of shares of Class A and Class B common stock held by existing stockholders after the completion of this offering and after giving effect to the sale by the selling stockholders of 11,570,000 shares of Class A common stock in this offering will be 102,670,583, or 83.4% of the total shares outstanding after this offering, and the number of shares of Class A common stock held by new investors will be 20,470,000, or 16.6% of the total shares outstanding after this offering.

The number of shares of our Class A and Class B common stock to be outstanding after this offering are based on (i) 112,422,478 shares of common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2014, (ii) the exercise of options for the purchase of 2,476,548 shares of Class B common stock by certain selling stockholders and the conversion of such shares into the same number of shares of Class A common stock for sale in this offering and (iii) the contribution of 658,443 shares of Class B common stock by Mr. Woodman to us in respect of stock options exercised by a certain selling stockholder and excludes:

 

Ÿ

27,798,919 shares of Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding as of March 31, 2014 with a weighted average exercise price of $3.24 per share (other than the shares to be sold in this offering by certain selling stockholders upon the exercise of stock options) and 570,000 shares of Class B common stock issuable pursuant to RSUs outstanding as of March 31, 2014, under our 2010 Plan;

 

Ÿ

the effect of the contribution back to us of a number of shares of Class B common stock equal to the number of shares we issue upon exercise of an outstanding option for the purchase of 6,584,427 shares of Class B common stock (other than those shares of Class B common stock contributed back to us in respect of stock options exercised by a certain selling stockholder); see “Certain relationships and related person transactions—Equity grants and contribution agreement;”

 

Ÿ

3,063,915 shares of Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options with a weighted average exercise price of $18.24 per share granted after March 31, 2014 and

 

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4,750,379 shares of Class B common stock issuable upon settlement of RSUs granted after March 31, 2014;

 

Ÿ

398,121 shares of Class B common stock subject to a right of repurchase by us outstanding as of March 31, 2014;

 

Ÿ

13,470,229 shares of Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2014 Plan, which became effective on the date immediately prior to the date of this prospectus, and at which time any remaining shares available for issuance under our 2010 Plan were added to the shares reserved under our 2014 Plan and we ceased granting awards under our 2010 Plan; and

 

Ÿ

3,367,557 shares of Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our ESPP, which became effective on the date of this prospectus.

Our 2014 Plan and ESPP also provide for automatic annual increases in the number of shares reserved under the plans each year, as more fully described in “Executive compensation—Employee benefit plans.”

 

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Selected consolidated financial data

You should read the selected consolidated financial data below in conjunction with “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” and the consolidated financial statements, related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this prospectus. The selected consolidated financial data in this section are not intended to replace the consolidated financial statements and are qualified in their entirety by the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

The following table presents selected consolidated financial data. We derived the consolidated statements of operations data for 2011, 2012 and 2013 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2012 and 2013 from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. We derived the consolidated statements of operations data for 2010 from our audited consolidated financial statements that are not included in this prospectus, and have reclassified certain operating expenses for 2010 and have now included $0.7 million (unaudited) in sales and marketing expenses that was previously classified in general and administrative expenses, to conform with current presentation. The consolidated statements of operations data for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2014 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of March 31, 2014 have been derived from our unaudited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. We have prepared the unaudited consolidated financial statements on the same basis as the audited consolidated financial statements and have included, in our opinion, all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments that we consider necessary to state fairly the financial information set forth in those financial statements. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected in the future, and our interim results should not necessarily be considered indicative of results we expect for the full year.

 

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Consolidated statements of operations data:		Year ended December 31,																Three months ended March 31,
(in thousands, except per share amounts)		2010				2011				2012				2013				2013				2014
Revenue		$	64,464			$	234,238			$	526,016			$	985,737			$	255,057			$	235,716
Cost of revenue(1)			31,719				111,683				298,530				623,953				165,628				139,202
Gross profit			32,745				122,555				227,486				361,784				89,429				96,514
Operating expenses:
Research and development(1)			1,394				8,644				36,115				73,737				12,012				28,739
Sales and marketing(1)			13,860				64,375				116,855				157,771				35,673				41,341
General and administrative(1)			5,634				10,757				20,899				31,573				6,988				9,878
Total operating expenses			20,888				83,776				173,869				263,081				54,673				79,958
Operating income			11,857				38,779				53,617				98,703				34,756				16,556
Other income (expense), net			(29	)			12				(407	)			(7,374	)			(1,694	)			(1,625	)
Income before income taxes			11,828				38,791				53,210				91,329				33,062				14,931
Income tax expense			248				14,179				20,948				30,751				10,027				3,882
Net income		$	11,580			$	24,612			$	32,262			$	60,578			$	23,035			$	11,049
Weighted-average shares used to compute net income per share attributable to common stockholders(2):
Basic			67,207				73,481				74,226				81,018				80,768				81,582
Diluted			73,160				78,551				74,226				98,941				98,457				100,783
Net income per share attributable to common stockholders(2):
Basic		$	0.17			$	0.26			$	0.07			$	0.54			$	0.21			$	0.10
Diluted		$	0.16			$	0.24			$	0.07			$	0.47			$	0.18			$	0.08
Pro forma net income per share attributable to common stockholders (unaudited)(2):
Basic														$	0.54							$	0.10
Diluted														$	0.47							$	0.08
Pro forma weighted-average shares used to compute net income per share attributable to common stockholders (unaudited)(2):
Basic															111,541								112,105
Diluted															129,464								131,306
Supplemental pro forma net income per share attributable to common stockholders (unaudited)(2):
Basic														$	0.55							$	0.10
Diluted														$	0.47							$	0.09
Supplemental pro forma weighted-average shares used to compute net income per share attributable to common stockholders (unaudited)(2):
Basic															116,166								116,730
Diluted															134,089								135,931
Other financial information:
Adjusted EBITDA(3)		$	12,748			$	52,873			$	75,288			$	133,726			$	40,923			$	28,627

(footnotes appear on the following page)

 

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(1)

Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:

 

		Year ended December 31,																Three months ended March 31,
(in thousands)		2010				2011				2012				2013				2013				2014
Cost of revenue		$	10			$	122			$	333			$	690			$	220			$	168
Research and development			73				261				1,452				3,003				441				1,401
Sales and marketing			323				7,690				6,335				5,670				1,204				1,414
General and administrative			268				902				1,036				1,524				230				1,054
Total stock-based compensation expense		$	674			$	8,975			$	9,156			$	10,887			$	2,095			$	4,037

 

(2)

See Note 8 of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus for an explanation of the calculations of our historical basic and diluted net income per share attributable to common stockholders and our pro forma and supplemental pro forma unaudited basic and diluted net income per share.

 

		December 31,								March 31,
(in thousands)		2012				2013				2014
Consolidated balance sheet data:
Cash		$	36,485			$	101,410			$	111,215
Working capital			69,618				57,446				66,999
Total assets			246,665				439,671				355,200
Total indebtedness			129,395				113,612				110,666
Redeemable convertible preferred stock			77,138				77,198				77,213
Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)			(79,741	)			(5,366	)			10,391

 

(3)

See “Prospectus summary—Summary consolidated financial data – Adjusted EBITDA” for additional information and a reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA.

 

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Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements, related notes and other financial information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including but not limited to, those discussed in “Risk factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus.

Overview

GoPro is transforming the way consumers capture, manage, share and enjoy meaningful life experiences. We do this by enabling people to capture compelling, immersive photo and video content of themselves participating in their favorite activities.

We were founded in 2004 to address the limitations of traditional cameras. In 2004, we shipped our first product, a wrist-mounted, waterproof, film-based capture device, and in 2006 we shipped our first digital capture device, the Digital HERO. We introduced our first HD capture device in 2009, the HD HERO, and we introduced our current HERO3+ family of capture devices in late 2013. We also sell mountable and wearable accessories that enable professional quality capture at affordable prices.

We have continued to enhance our product offering by providing software solutions that address the pain points of managing, editing and sharing content. GoPro Studio enables our customers to easily edit and share simple or complex videos. The GoPro App enables customers to easily and wirelessly manage and share content from our HERO capture devices.

Since we launched our first HD camera in 2009, we have experienced rapid growth. In 2011, 2012, 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, we generated revenue of $234.2 million, $526.0 million, $985.7 million and $235.7 million and reported net income of $24.6 million, $32.3 million, $60.6 million and $11.0 million, respectively. Substantially all of our revenue has been generated from the sale of cameras and accessories.

Our sales strategy initially targeted independent specialty retailers focused on action sports markets, which we believe helped to establish the authenticity of our brand. We now sell our products both directly and through distribution. Our direct channel includes big box, mid-market and independent specialty retailers, as well as our website. We use our distribution channel to sell internationally and into certain specialty markets. As of March 31, 2014, our products were sold to customers in more than 100 countries and through more than 25,000 retail outlets. Sales outside of the United States represented 35%, 47%, 49% and 53% of our revenue for 2011, 2012, 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, respectively.

We believe consumer demand for compelling content, combined with our self-capture technology and the popularity of social media, create a significant media opportunity for GoPro. GoPro programming, a combination of GoPro originally produced content and “best of” UGC, has developed a growing audience. To scale this, we have built a team of production professionals who regularly produce content based on inspiring stories from around the world, captured exclusively with our capture devices. In addition, we actively curate and redistribute,

 

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with permission, UGC as GoPro-branded content through the GoPro Network, which includes the GoPro Channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Virgin America, Xbox Live and YouTube.

We face potential challenges that could limit our ability to take advantage of these opportunities, including the risk that we may not be able to continue to develop and introduce new products and attract new customers. We do not expect to sustain or increase our revenue growth rates. In addition, we rely on a small number of retailer and distributor customers for a significant portion of our revenue. For 2011, 2012, 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, one retailer accounted for 15%, 15%, 17% and 13% of our revenue, respectively.

We rely on contract manufacturers for the production of our cameras and accessories. All of the components that go into the manufacture of our cameras and accessories are sourced from third-party suppliers, and some of these suppliers are the sole source for important components. We utilize third-party logistics providers for product fulfillment.

Key business metrics

In addition to the measures presented in our consolidated financial statements, we use the following key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, develop financial forecasts and make strategic decisions.

 

		Year ended December 31,												Three months ended March 31,
(in thousands)		2011				2012				2013				2013				2014
Key business metrics:
Units shipped			1,145				2,316				3,849				954				852
Adjusted EBITDA		$	52,873			$	75,288			$	133,726			$	40,923			$	28,627

 

Ÿ

Units shipped.    Units shipped represents the number of individual packaged camera units that are shipped during a reporting period, net of any returns. Packaged camera units include a waterproof housing, a battery, selected mounts and other accessories which vary by model. We monitor units shipped on a daily basis as it is a key indicator of revenue trends for a reporting period. We use units shipped to help optimize our fulfillment operations and shipment allocations in order to better maintain operating efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction.

 

Ÿ

Adjusted EBITDA.    Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as net income (loss), adjusted after excluding the impact of: provision (benefit) for income taxes, interest income, interest expense, depreciation and amortization, POP display amortization and stock-based compensation. We use adjusted EBITDA as a key measure to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve our annual budget and to develop short- and long-term operational plans. In particular, the exclusion of certain expenses in calculating adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business. Accordingly, we believe that adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and board of directors. See “Prospectus summary—Summary consolidated financial data—Adjusted EBITDA” for additional information and a reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA.

 

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Factors affecting performance

We believe that our future success will be dependent on many factors, including those further discussed below. While these areas represent opportunities for us, they also represent challenges and risks that we must successfully address in order to continue the growth of our business and improve our results of operations.

 

Ÿ

Investing in research and development.    We believe that our performance is significantly dependent on the investments we make in research and development and that we must continually develop and introduce innovative new products, enhance existing products and effectively stimulate customer demand for existing and future products. If we fail to innovate and enhance our product offerings, our brand, market position and revenue may be adversely affected. Further if our research and development efforts are not successful, we will not recover the investments that we make in this aspect of our business.

 

Ÿ

Investing in sales and marketing.    We intend to continue to invest significant resources in our marketing, advertising and brand management efforts. Sales and marketing investments will often occur in advance of any sales benefits from these activities, and it may be difficult for us to determine if we are efficiently allocating our resources in this area.

 

Ÿ

Leveraging media content.    We expect to increase our investment in the development of the GoPro Network and its related content. We believe we have significant opportunities to establish new revenue streams from these investments. However, we do not have significant experience deriving revenue from the distribution of GoPro content, and we cannot be assured that these investments will result in increased revenue or profitability.

 

Ÿ

Expanding into new vertical markets and growing internationally.    Our long-term growth will depend in part on our continued ability to expand our customer base and increase revenue from international markets. We intend to expand into new vertical markets and to increase our presence globally through the active promotion of our brand, the formation of strategic partnerships, the introduction of new products and the growth of our international sales channel.

 

Ÿ

Seasonality.    Historically, we have experienced the highest levels of revenue in the fourth quarter of the year, coinciding with the holiday shopping season in the United States and Europe. Accordingly, we have historically introduced our newest generation of product offerings just prior to this peak season. Given the significant seasonality of our sales, timely and effective product introductions and forecasting for this season are critical to our operations.

Components of our results of operations and financial condition

Revenue

Our revenue is comprised of product revenue, net of returns and sales incentives:

 

Ÿ

Product revenue.    Product revenue is derived from the sale of our HERO line of cameras and accessories directly to retailers and through gopro.com, as well as through our network of domestic and international distributors.

 

Ÿ

Returns and sales incentives.    Our standard terms and conditions of sale do not allow for product returns and we generally do not allow product returns other than under warranty. However, we have entered into contracts with certain large retailers and distributors with terms and conditions that allow for limited product returns rights. Upon shipment of our

 

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product to customers with such rights, we reduce revenue equal to the estimated future returns related to the current period product revenue. Additionally, we offer price protection discounts to certain customers when new capture devices are released. We record price protection discounts, as a reduction in revenue, based on shipments subject to price protection. Discounts recorded are based on an evaluation of inventory held by the customer at the time the price protection offer is extended.

See “—Critical accounting policies” for a more detailed discussion of our revenue recognition policy.

Cost of revenue

Our cost of revenue is comprised of the following:

 

Ÿ

manufacturing costs of our products payable to third-party contract manufacturers;

 

Ÿ

third-party logistics costs;

 

Ÿ

costs to procure components directly from our suppliers;

 

Ÿ

inbound and outbound freight costs and duties;

 

Ÿ

costs associated with the repair of products under warranty;

 

Ÿ

write-downs of inventory carrying value to adjust for excess and obsolete inventory and periodic physical inventory counts; and

 

Ÿ

certain allocated costs related to manufacturing management, facilities, information technology support and other expenses associated with internal logistics support, including stock-based compensation.

We outsource our manufacturing, warehouse operations and order fulfillment activities to third parties. Our product costs will vary directly with volume and based on the costs of underlying product components as well as the prices we are able to negotiate with our contract manufacturers. Shipping costs will fluctuate with volume as well as with the method of shipping chosen in order to meet customer demand. As a global company with suppliers centered in Asia and customers located worldwide, we have used, and may in the future use, air shipping to deliver our products directly to retail stores and distribution centers. Air shipping is more costly than sea or ground shipping or other delivery options. We primarily use air shipping to meet the demand of our products during peak shopping seasons and new product launches.

Gross profit and gross profit margin

Our gross profit and gross profit margin have been, and may in the future be, influenced by several factors including: product, channel and geographical revenue mix; changes in product costs related to the release of different camera models; component, contract manufacturing and supplier pricing; and foreign currency exchange. Although we primarily procure and sell our products in U.S. dollars, our suppliers incur many costs, including labor costs, in other currencies. To the extent that exchange rates move unfavorably for our suppliers, they may seek to pass these additional costs on to us, which could have a material impact on our future average selling prices and unit costs. Gross profit and gross profit margin may fluctuate over time based on the factors described above.

 

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Operating expenses

We classify our operating expenses into three categories: research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative.

 

Ÿ

Research and development.    Research and development expense consists primarily of personnel related costs, which include salaries and stock-based compensation, in addition to costs attributable to product design, test, patent, facilities and information technology. Over time, we expect our research and development expense to increase in absolute dollars as we continue to make significant investments in developing new products, applications, functionality and other offerings. Research and development expense may fluctuate as a percentage of revenue, notably in the fourth quarter of our fiscal year when we have historically experienced our highest levels of revenue.

 

Ÿ

Sales and marketing.    Sales and marketing expense consists primarily of advertising and marketing promotions of our products, including POP display amortization, personnel related costs, which include salaries and stock-based compensation, commissions, trade show and event costs, sponsorship costs, professional services, facilities, information technology and travel. Over time, we expect our sales and marketing expense to increase in absolute dollars as we continue to actively promote our products. Sales and marketing expense may fluctuate as a percentage of revenue, notably in the fourth quarter of our fiscal year when we have historically experienced our highest levels of revenue.

 

Ÿ

General and administrative.    General and administrative expense consists of personnel related costs, which include salaries and stock-based compensation, as well as the costs of professional services, facilities, information technology and other administrative expenses. We expect our general and administrative expense to increase in absolute dollars following the completion of this offering due to the anticipated growth of our business and related infrastructure as well as accounting, insurance, investor relations and other costs associated with becoming a public company. General and administrative expense may fluctuate as a percentage of revenue, notably in the fourth quarter of our fiscal year when we have historically experienced our highest levels of revenue.

Other income (expense), net

Other income (expense), net consists of interest expense associated with our debt financing arrangements and sales of accounts receivable, amortization of debt issuance costs, interest income earned on our cash balances, foreign currency exchange gains (losses) related to the remeasurement of certain assets and liabilities of our foreign subsidiaries that are denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of the subsidiary and foreign exchange transactions gains and losses. We do not utilize derivatives to hedge our foreign exchange risk as we believe the risk to be immaterial to our results of operations.

Income tax expense

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and foreign jurisdictions in which we do business. These foreign jurisdictions have statutory tax rates different from those in the United States. Additionally, certain of our international earnings are also taxable in the United States. Accordingly, our effective tax rates will vary depending on the relative proportion of foreign to U.S. income, the absorption of foreign tax credits, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities and changes in tax laws. We regularly assess the likelihood of

 

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adverse outcomes resulting from the examination of our tax returns by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, and other tax authorities to determine the adequacy of our income tax reserves and expense. Should actual events or results differ from our current expectations, charges or credits to our income tax expense may become necessary. Any such adjustments could have a significant impact on our results of operations.

Statements of operations

The following table sets forth the components of our consolidated statements of operations for each of the periods presented:

 

		Year ended December 31,												Three months ended March 31,
(in thousands)		2011				2012				2013				2013				2014
Revenue		$	234,238			$	526,016			$	985,737			$	255,057			$	235,716
Cost of revenue(1)			111,683				298,530				623,953				165,628				139,202
Gross profit			122,555				227,486				361,784				89,429				96,514
Operating expenses:
Research and development(1)			8,644				36,115				73,737				12,012				28,739
Sales and marketing(1)			64,375				116,855				157,771				35,673				41,341
General and administrative(1)			10,757				20,899				31,573				6,988				9,878
Total operating expenses			83,776				173,869				263,081				54,673				79,958
Operating income			38,779				53,617				98,703				34,756				16,556
Other income (expense), net			12				(407	)			(7,374	)			(1,694	)			(1,625	)
Income before income taxes			38,791				53,210				91,329				33,062				14,931
Income tax expense			14,179				20,948				30,751				10,027				3,882
Net income		$	24,612			$	32,262			$	60,578			$	23,035			$	11,049
(1) Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:
Cost of revenue		$	122			$	333			$	690			$	220			$	168
Research and development			261				1,452				3,003				441				1,401
Sales and marketing			7,690				6,335				5,670				1,204				1,414
General and administrative			902				1,036				1,524				230				1,054
Total stock-based compensation expense		$	8,975			$	9,156			$	10,887			$	2,095			$	4,037

 

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The following table sets forth the components of our consolidated statements of operations for each of the periods presented as a percentage of revenue:

 

		Year ended December 31,												Three months ended March 31,
		2011				2012				2013				2013				2014
Revenue			100%				100%				100%				100%				100%
Cost of revenue			48%				57%				63%				65%				59%
Gross profit			52%				43%				37%				35%				41%
Operating expenses:
Research and development			4%				7%				7%				5%				12%
Sales and marketing			27%				22%				16%				13%				18%
General and administrative			4%				4%				4%				3%				4%
Total operating expenses			35%				33%				27%				21%				34%
Operating income			17%				10%				10%				14%				7%
Other income (expense), net			—				—				(1)%				(1)%				(1)%
Income before income taxes			17%				10%				9%				13%				6%
Income tax expense			6%				4%				3%				4%				1%
Net income			11%				6%				6%				9%				5%

Comparison of the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2014

Revenue

 

		Three months ended March 31,								Change
(dollars in thousands)		2013				2014				$				%
Revenue		$	255,057			$	235,716			$	(19,341	)			(8)%

Revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2014 decreased 8% to $235.7 million from $255.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013. Units shipped in the three months ended March 31, 2014 decreased 11% to 0.9 million from 1.0 million in 2013. Revenue and units shipped for the three months ended March 31, 2013 were impacted by production delays of our HERO3 Black edition capture device in the fourth quarter of 2012. These production delays correspondingly delayed shipments until the first quarter of 2013, which resulted in revenues in the first quarter of 2013 that did not reflect the traditional seasonality in our business. The three months ended March 31, 2014 were not similarly affected. Partially offsetting the decrease in revenue due to the decrease in units shipped in the three months ended March 31, 2014 was a 3% increase in the average selling price of units shipped. Our revenue decreased in each of our primary geographical regions of the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) in the three months ended March 31, 2014 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2013.

Cost of revenue, gross profit and gross profit margin

 

		Three months ended March,								Change
(dollars in thousands)		2013				2014				$				%
Cost of revenue		$	165,628			$	139,202			$	(26,426	)			(16)%
Gross profit		$	89,429			$	96,514			$	7,085				8%
Gross profit margin			35%				41%

 

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Gross profit margin increased to 41% in the three months ended March 31, 2014 from 35% in the three months ended March 31, 2013 primarily due to lower product costs for our HERO3+ capture devices introduced in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to our previous generation HERO3 capture devices, coupled with a 3% increase in average selling prices of units shipped. HERO3+ product costs were approximately 10% less than those of the HERO3 in the three months ended March 31, 2013. This was partially offset by an increase in other costs of revenue, which contributed to a 1% reduction in margin primarily due to higher freight, duty and rework costs. We expect gross profit margin to fluctuate over time based on product mix, changes in product costs related to the release of different capture device models and changes in average selling price.

Operating expenses

 

		Three months ended March 31,								Change
(dollars in thousands)		2013				2014				$				%
Research and development		$	12,012			$	28,739			$	16,727				139%
Sales and marketing			35,673				41,341				5,668				16%
General and administrative			6,988				9,878				2,890				41%
Total operating expenses		$	54,673			$	79,958			$	25,285				46%

Research and development expense increased $16.7 million, or 139%, for the three months ended March 31, 2014 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2013, due primarily to a $8.3 million increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount of 139 employees to support our broadened product portfolio, a $5.1 million increase in consulting and outside professional service costs, a $1.5 million increase in facility and information technology support costs to support our overall growth and a $1.1 million increase in equipment costs.

Sales and marketing expense increased $5.7 million, or 16%, for the three months ended March 31, 2014 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2013, due primarily to a $3.8 million increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount of 99 employees and a $1.6 million increase in advertising and promotional activity costs.

General and administrative expense increased $2.9 million, or 41%, for the three months ended March 31, 2014 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2013, due primarily to a $2.7 million increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount of 58 employees.

Other income (expense), net

 

		Three months ended March 31,								Change
(dollars in thousands)		2013				2014				$				%
Interest expense		$	(1,333	)		$	(1,348	)		$	(15	)			1%
Interest income			1				12				11				1,100%
Other expense			(276	)			(262	)			14				(5)%
Realized foreign exchange loss, net			(86	)			(27	)			59				(69)%
Total other income (expense), net		$	(1,694	)		$	(1,625	)		$	69				(4)%

Interest expense for the three months ended March 31, 2014 remained relatively flat compared to the three months ended March 31, 2013.

 

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Income tax expense

 

		Three months ended March 31,								Change
(dollars in thousands)		2013				2014				$				%
Income tax expense		$	10,027			$	3,882			$	(6,145	)			(61)%
Effective tax rate			30.3%				26.0%

Income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2014 was $3.9 million compared to $10.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013. Our effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2014 was lower than for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and the federal statutory rate of 35%, primarily due to the expansion of our operations into international jurisdictions that have lower overall statutory tax rates.

Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013

Revenue

 

		Year ended December 31,												Change 2012 vs. 2011								Change 2013 vs. 2012
(dollars in thousands)		2011				2012				2013				$				%				$				%
Revenue		$	234,238			$	526,016			$	985,737			$	291,778				125%			$	459,721				87%

2013 compared to 2012

Revenue for 2013 increased 87% to $985.7 million from $526.0 million for 2012. Units shipped in 2013 increased 66% to 3.8 million from 2.3 million in 2012, primarily due to an increase in demand for our HERO3 products released in the fourth quarter of 2012 and our HERO3+ products released in the fourth quarter of 2013. Further contributing to the increase in revenue in 2013 was a 19% increase in the average selling price of units shipped. The increase in average selling price from 2012 to 2013 was primarily driven by a shift in product mix to the HERO3 and HERO3+ Black edition capture devices, which have higher price points compared to our HERO2 capture devices. Our 2013 revenue also increased compared to 2012 as a result of an increase in accessories we shipped outside of units shipped. Our revenue grew in each of our primary geographical regions of the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA in 2013.

2012 compared to 2011

Revenue for 2012 increased 125% to $526.0 million from $234.2 million for 2011. Units shipped in 2012 increased 102% to 2.3 million units from 1.1 million in 2011 primarily due to an increase in demand for our HERO2 capture devices released in the fourth quarter of 2011 and our HERO3 capture devices released in the fourth quarter of 2012. Revenue for 2012 also increased compared to 2011 due to an increase in accessories we shipped outside of units shipped. Further contributing to the increase in revenue in 2012 was a 14% increase in our average selling price of units shipped for 2012 compared to 2011 due to higher average selling price for our HERO3 Black edition capture devices. Our revenue grew in each of our primary geographic regions in 2012.

 

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Cost of revenue, gross profit and gross profit margin

 

		Year ended December 31,												Change 2012 vs. 2011								Change 2013 vs. 2012
(dollars in thousands)		2011				2012				2013				$				%				$				%
Cost of revenue		$	111,683			$	298,530			$	623,953			$	186,847				167%			$	325,423				109%
Gross profit		$	122,555			$	227,486			$	361,784			$	104,931				86%			$	134,298				59%
Gross profit margin			52%				43%				37%

2013 compared to 2012

Gross profit margin decreased to 37% in 2013 from 43% in 2012 due primarily to higher product costs for our HERO3 capture devices introduced in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to our previous generation HERO2 capture devices. HERO3 product costs were approximately 67% greater than those of the HERO2, while average selling prices of units shipped increased approximately 19%. This increase in product costs was due primarily to the inclusion of additional features and functionality in our HERO3 capture devices. Our HERO3+ capture devices, introduced in October 2013, included lower product costs and partially offset the HERO3 cost increase in the fourth quarter of 2013 as customers transitioned to our new product line. The average cost for the HERO3+ capture device decreased approximately 3% compared to the HERO3 capture device.

2012 compared to 2011

Gross profit margin decreased to 43% in 2012 from 52% in 2011, primarily due to higher product costs associated with additional features and functionality included in our HERO3 capture devices introduced in the fourth quarter of 2012. The average product costs of our HERO3 capture device, introduced in the fourth quarter of 2012, represented more than a 60% increase in the average cost of the HERO and HERO2 capture devices sold in 2011. This increase in product costs was partially offset by the 14% increase in the average selling price of units shipped for 2012 compared to 2011.

Operating expenses

 

		Year ended December 31,												Change 2012 vs. 2011								Change 2013 vs. 2012
(dollars in thousands)		2011				2012				2013				$				%				$				%
Research and development		$	8,644			$	36,115			$	73,737			$	27,471				318%			$	37,622				104%
Sales and marketing			64,375				116,855				157,771				52,480				82%				40,916				35%
General and administrative			10,757				20,899				31,573				10,142				94%				10,674				51%
Total operating expenses		$	83,776			$	173,869			$	263,081			$	90,093				108%			$	89,212				51%

2013 compared to 2012

Research and development expense increased $37.6 million, or 104%, for 2013 compared to 2012, due primarily to a $20.3 million increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount of 127 employees, a $9.7 million increase in facility and information technology support costs associated with an expansion of our corporate offices and a $6.1 million increase in consulting and outside professional service costs.

 

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Sales and marketing expense increased $40.9 million, or 35%, for 2013 compared to 2012, due primarily to a $21.3 million increase in advertising and promotional activities, a $6.8 million increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount of 95 employees, a $5.0 million increase in facility and information technology support costs associated with an expansion of our corporate offices, a $3.9 million increase in consulting and outside professional services costs and a $1.0 million increase in sales commissions.

General and administrative expense increased $10.7 million, or 51%, for 2013 compared to 2012, due primarily to a $5.2 million increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount of 62 employees, a $2.6 million increase in professional, consulting and temporary services to support our overall growth and a $2.3 million increase in facility and information technology support costs associated with an expansion of our corporate offices.

2012 compared to 2011

Research and development expense increased $27.5 million, or 318%, for 2012 compared to 2011, primarily due to a $11.7 million increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount of 87 employees, an $8.2 million increase in consulting and outside professional services, a $5.4 million increase in facility and information technology support costs associated with an expansion of our corporate offices and a $1.8 million increase in prototype material costs.

Sales and marketing expense increased $52.5 million, or 82%, for 2012 compared to 2011, primarily due to a $33.4 million increase in advertising and promotional activities to increase brand awareness, a $13.6 million increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount of 61 employees and a $6.9 million increase in consulting and outside professional service costs, largely in connection with marketing and customer support activities. We also increased our facility and information technology support costs associated with an expansion of our corporate offices by $6.5 million. Selling expense, which principally consists of internal and external sales commissions, increased $4.1 million from 2011. Partially offsetting these increases in 2012 was a $13.0 million charge included in sales and marketing expense for 2011 related to an agreement between our Chief Executive Officer and an employee, to share proceeds from a sale of equity securities. See “Certain relationships and related person transactions—Share of proceeds from sale of equity securities” for further description of this transaction.

General and administrative expense increased $10.1 million, or 94%, for 2012 compared to 2011, due primarily to a $3.1 million increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount of 29 employees, a $3.1 million increase in facility and information technology support costs associated with an expansion of our corporate offices and a $3.0 million increase in consulting and outside professional service costs to support our growth.

Other income (expense), net

 

		Year ended December 31,												Change 2012 vs. 2011								Change 2013 vs. 2012
(dollars in thousands)		2011				2012				2013				$				%				$				%
Interest expense		$	(32	)		$	(392	)		$	(6,020	)		$	(360	)			1,125%			$	(5,628	)			1,436%
Interest income			44				46				2				2				5%				(44	)			(96)%
Realized foreign exchange loss, net			—				(61	)			(322	)			(61	)			100%				(261	)			428%
Other income (expense), net			—				—				(1,034	)			—				—				(1,034	)			100%
Total other income (expense), net		$	12			$	(407	)		$	(7,374	)		$	(419	)			(3,492)%			$	(6,967	)			1,712%

 

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2013 compared to 2012

Interest expense for 2013 was $6.0 million compared to $0.4 million for 2012, primarily due to increased debt balances under our credit facility. Other expense in 2013 consisted primarily of banking and commission fees related to our standby letter of credit. See “Liquidity and capital resources—Credit facility.”

2012 compared to 2011

Other income (expense), net, was ($0.4 million) for 2012 compared to $12,000 in 2011. The increase in net expense was primarily due to interest expense associated with our credit facility entered into in December 2012.

Income tax expense

 

		Year ended December 31,												Change 2012 vs.  2011								Change 2013 vs. 2012
(dollars in thousands)		2011				2012				2013				$				%				$				%
Income tax expense		$	14,179			$	20,948			$	30,751			$	6,769				48%				$ 9,803				47%
Effective tax rate			36.6	%			39.4	%			33.7	%

2013 compared to 2012

Income tax expense for 2013 was $30.8 million compared to $20.9 million for 2012. Our effective income tax rate was 33.7% for 2013 compared to 39.4% for 2012. Our effective tax rate for 2013 was lower than for 2012 and the federal statutory rate of 35% primarily due to the expansion of our operations into international jurisdictions that have lower overall statutory tax rates and the extension of our 2012 federal research credit in 2013 of $0.7 million.

2012 compared to 2011

Our income tax expense was $20.9 million for 2012 compared to $14.2 million for 2011. Our effective income tax rate was 39.4% for 2012 compared to 36.6% for 2011. Our effective tax rate increased in 2012 compared to 2011 primarily due to tax benefits related to our S corporation status during the first two months of 2011.

Backlog

We do not believe that our backlog is meaningful as of any particular date or indicative of future sales, as our customers can change or cancel orders with limited or no penalty and limited advance notice prior to shipment.

 

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Unaudited quarterly results of operations

The following table sets forth our unaudited quarterly consolidated results of operations for each of the nine quarterly periods ended March 31, 2014. These unaudited quarterly results of operations have been prepared on the same basis as our audited consolidated financial statements and, in our opinion, reflect all normal recurring adjustments necessary for the fair statement of the results of operations for these periods. You should read the following tables in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. The results of operations for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for a full year or any future periods.

 

		Three months ended
(in thousands)		March 31, 2012				June 30, 2012				Sept. 30, 2012(2)				Dec. 31, 2012(3)				March 31, 2013				June 30, 2013				Sept. 30, 2013				Dec. 31, 2013(4)				March 31, 2014
Consolidated statement of operations data:
Revenue		$	87,642			$	122,290			$	82,055			$	234,029			$	255,057			$	177,082			$	192,146			$	361,452			$	235,716
Cost of revenue(1)			43,463				58,847				46,580				149,640				165,628				120,242				128,135				209,948				139,202
Gross profit			44,179				63,443				35,475				84,389				89,429				56,840				64,011				151,504				96,514
Operating expenses:
Research and development(1)			5,567				7,329				10,929				12,290				12,012				16,687				19,587				25,451				28,739
Sales and marketing(1)			21,436				23,947				26,764				44,708				35,673				39,065				37,413				45,620				41,341
General and administrative(1)			3,812				5,156				5,009				6,922				6,988				7,044				7,683				9,858				9,878
Total operating expenses			30,815				36,432				42,702				63,920				54,673				62,796				64,683				80,929				79,958
Operating income (loss)			13,364				27,011				(7,227	)			20,469				34,756				(5,956	)			(672	)			70,575				16,556
Other income (expense), net			(32	)			(83	)			(68	)			(224	)			(1,694	)			(1,697	)			(1,759	)			(2,224	)			(1,625	)
Income (loss) before income taxes			13,332				26,928				(7,295	)			20,245				33,062				(7,653	)			(2,431	)			68,351				14,931
Income tax (benefit) expense			5,293				11,697				(4,586	)			8,544				10,027				(2,568	)			(1,330	)			24,622				3,882
Net income (loss)		$	8,039			$	15,231			$	(2,709	)		$	11,701			$	23,035			$	(5,085	)		$	(1,101	)		$	43,729			$	11,049
(1)    Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:
Cost of revenue		$	67			$	73			$	83			$	110			$	220			$	157			$	153			$	160			$	168
Research and development			213				212				338				689				441				556				740				1,266				1,401
Sales and marketing			745				920				1,880				2,790				1,204				1,454				1,419				1,593				1,414
General and administrative			81				93				115				747				230				365				408				521				1,054
Total stock-based compensation expense		$	1,106			$	1,298			$	2,416			$	4,336			$	2,095			$	2,532			$	2,720			$	3,540			$	4,037

 

(2)

Includes a charge of $1.0 million related to the modification of stock options, which was recorded to sales and marketing expense.

(3)

Includes compensation costs of $2.6 million recognized upon a sale of shares from several employees to the Chief Executive Officer, of which $0.3 million was recorded to research and development, $1.7 million was recorded to sales and marketing and $0.6 million was recorded to general and administrative expense.

(4)

Includes a cash charge of $0.3 million related to certain provisions and benefits in the separation agreement of our former Chief Financial Officer, who resigned in December 2013 due to health reasons. This charge was recorded to general and administrative expense.

 

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The following table sets forth the components of our unaudited consolidated statements of operations for each of the periods presented as a percentage of revenue:

 

		Three months ended
(percentage of revenue)		March 31, 2012				June 30, 2012				Sept. 30, 2012				Dec. 31, 2012				March 31, 2013				June 30, 2013				Sept. 30, 2013				Dec. 31, 2013				March 31, 2014
Revenue			100%				100%				100%				100%				100%				100%				100%				100%				100%
Cost of revenue			50%				48%				57%				64%				65%				68%				67%				58%				59%
Gross profit			50%				52%				43%				36%				35%				32%				33%				42%				41%
Operating expenses:
Research and development			6%				6%				13%				5%				5%				9%				10%				7%				12%
Sales and marketing			24%				20%				33%				19%				13%				22%				19%				12%				18%
General and administrative			5%				4%				6%				3%				3%				4%				4%				3%				4%
Total operating expenses			35%				30%				52%				27%				21%				35%				33%				22%				34%
Operating income (loss)			15%				22%				(9)%				9%				14%				(3)%				—%				20%				7%
Other income (expense), net			—%				—%				—%				—%				(1)%				(1)%				(1)%				(1)%				(1)%
Income (loss) before income taxes			15%				22%				(9)%				9%				13%				(4)%				(1)%				19%				6%
Income tax (benefit) expense			6%				10%				(6)%				4%				4%				(1)%				—%				7%				1%
Net income (loss)			9%				12%				(3)%				5%				9%				(3)%				(1)%				12%				5%

Quarterly trends

Our overall operating results fluctuate from quarter to quarter as a result of a variety of factors, including seasonal factors and economic cycles that influence consumer retail product purchase trends.

Generally, we have experienced the highest levels of revenue in the fourth quarter of the year, which coincides with the winter holiday shopping season in the United States and Europe and the period in which we have historically introduced the newest generation of our product offerings. Revenue in the first quarter of 2013 was greater than the fourth quarter of 2012 due to the delay in the introduction of our HERO3 Black edition capture device in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Gross profit margin decreased from the third quarter of 2012 through the second quarter of 2013 primarily due to higher product costs of our HERO3 capture devices compared to our HERO2 capture devices. Gross profit margin was higher in the fourth quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014 primarily due to a decrease in the product costs of our HERO3+ capture devices compared to our HERO3 capture devices and, to a lesser extent, an increase in the average selling price of units shipped compared to prior periods.

Operating expense increased for the quarterly periods presented due primarily to increased personnel related expenses, advertising and promotional expenses and corporate infrastructure costs to support the growth of the company. For the three months ended December 31, 2012, sales and marketing expense reflected advertising and promotional activities to increase awareness of the GoPro brand and our product offerings associated with the launch of our HERO3 capture devices. For the three months ended March 31, 2014, research and development expense increased due primarily to an increase in personnel related costs associated with an increase in headcount and to an increase in consulting and outside professional service costs.

Our business is both positively and negatively affected by the behavior of consumers, economic conditions, competitive pressures and our operational decisions and related timelines, which

 

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includes the release of new products and accessories, as well as newer generations of our product offerings. Consequently, the results of any prior quarterly or annual periods should not be relied upon as indications of our future operating performance.

The following table sets forth the key business metrics for each of the periods presented:

 

		Three months ended
(in thousands)		March 31, 2012				June 30, 2012				Sept. 30, 2012				Dec. 31, 2012				March 31, 2013				June 30, 2013				Sept. 30, 2013				Dec. 31, 2013				March 31, 2014
Adjusted EBITDA(1)		$	17,353			$	32,469			$	(2,544	)		$	28,010			$	40,923			$	2,341			$	8,606			$	81,856			$	28,627
Units shipped			425				549				335				1,007				954				653				822				1,420				852

 

(1)

The following is a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA.

 

		Three months ended
(in thousands)		March 31, 2012				June 30, 2012				Sept. 30, 2012				Dec. 31, 2012				March 31, 2013				June 30, 2013				Sept. 30, 2013				Dec. 31, 2013				March 31, 2014
Net income (loss)		$	8,039			$	15,231			$	(2,709	)		$	11,701			$	23,035			$	(5,085	)		$	(1,101	)		$	43,729			$	11,049
Income tax (benefit) expense			5,293				11,697				(4,586	)			8,544				10,027				(2,568	)			(1,330	)			24,622				3,882
Interest income and expense			32				67				43				204				1,332				1,369				1,428				1,889				1,335
Depreciation and amortization			545				699				1,136				1,595				2,209				3,207				3,092				3,526				3,811
POP display amortization			2,338				3,477				1,156				1,630				2,225				2,886				3,797				4,550				4,513
Stock-based compensation			1,106				1,298				2,416				4,336				2,095				2,532				2,720				3,540				4,037
Adjusted EBITDA		$	17,353			$	32,469			$	(2,544	)		$	28,010			$	40,923			$	2,341			$	8,606			$	81,856			$	28,627

Liquidity and capital resources

 

		December 31,								March 31,
(in thousands)		2012				2013				2014
Cash		$	36,485			$	101,410			$	111,215

As of March 31, 2014, our principal sources of liquidity were our cash balances totaling $111.2 million and $30.0 million available under our credit facility term loan and revolving credit facility, respectively. Our operations have been financed primarily through cash flow from operating activities, the private sale of equity securities, and short- and long-term borrowings. Since inception, we have raised $20.0 million in equity capital and at March 31, 2014 had $111.0 million of principal amount of indebtedness outstanding.

We believe our existing cash balances, cash flow from operations and liquidity available from our credit facility will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs for at least the next 12 months and the foreseeable future. Our future capital requirements may vary materially from those currently planned and will depend on many factors, including our rate of revenue growth, the timing and extent of spending on research and development efforts and other business initiatives, the expansion of sales and marketing activities, the timing of new product introductions, market acceptance of our products and overall economic conditions. To the extent that current and anticipated future sources of liquidity are insufficient to fund our future business activities and requirements, we may be required to seek additional equity or debt financing. In the event additional financing is required from outside sources, we may not be able to raise it on terms acceptable to us or at all.

 

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Credit facility

On December 21, 2012, in order to effect a dividend to our stockholders, we entered into a $170.0 million credit facility consisting of a $120.0 million three-year term loan facility, or term loan, and a $50.0 million four-year revolving credit facility, or our revolving credit facility. At the closing of our credit facility, the entire amount of the term loan and $10.0 million of our revolving credit facility were drawn down, and $20.0 million was committed to a standby letter of credit. We received net proceeds of $127.6 million, net of $2.4 million of debt issuance and lender costs. The debt issuance and lender costs allocated to the term loan are being amortized to interest expense over the contractual term of our term loan using the effective interest method. Costs allocated to our revolving credit facility are deferred and amortized using the straight-line method over the four-year contractual term of our revolving credit facility. Borrowings under our credit facility are collateralized by substantially all of our assets and are subject to customary representations, warranties and covenants. Proceeds from this offering will be utilized to fully pay off outstanding balances under our term loan.

Our $120.0 million term loan has scheduled quarterly principal repayments, due on the last day of each quarter, of $1.5 million per quarter in 2013, $3.0 million per quarter in 2014 and $6.0 million per quarter for the first three quarters of 2015, with the remaining balance due on December 21, 2015. Our excess cash flow, as defined in the credit facility, for 2013 triggered a contractual principal prepayment obligation of $48.5 million, which amount has been classified as a current liability as of December 31, 2013 and March 31, 2014. In April 2014, we amended the credit facility agreement to extend the due date for this contractual principal prepayment from April 2014 to December 2014. Our $50.0 million revolving credit facility matures on December 21, 2016, and we can repay and re-borrow principal amounts under and during the term of our revolving credit facility. Of the $50.0 million available under our revolving credit facility, as of December 31, 2013 and March 31, 2014, $20.0 million is committed to a standby letter of credit, and there was no balance outstanding. In April 2014, the $20.0 million standby letter of credit was terminated.

Borrowings under the credit facility bear interest at a rate per annum equal to an applicable margin plus, at our option, either: (i) a base rate determined by reference to the highest of: (a) a rate of interest publicly announced by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. as its prime rate; (b) 0.5% per annum above the federal funds effective rate; and (c) the LIBOR rate for an interest period of one month plus 1.00%; or (ii) a LIBOR rate determined by reference to the costs of funds for Eurodollar deposits for the interest period relevant to such borrowing adjusted for certain reserve requirements. The applicable margin for borrowings ranges from 3.00% to 3.75% with respect to base rate loans and from 2.00% to 2.75% with respect to LIBOR rate loans, in each case, based on our consolidated leverage ratio. As of March 31, 2014, the interest rate on our term loan was 2.75%.

Our short term liquidity could be impacted in part by our ability to maintain compliance with covenants in the credit agreement. The agreement contains an acceleration clause for certain events related to our creditworthiness, including, among other things, our failure to maintain a financial leverage ratio below certain thresholds specified in the agreement and maintain a consolidated interest coverage ratio. As of December 31, 2012 and 2013 and March 31, 2014, we were in compliance with all financial covenants.

 

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The following table sets forth the major components of our consolidated statements of cash flows data for the periods presented:

 

		Year ended December 31,												Three months ended March 31,
(in thousands)		2011				2012				2013				2013				2014
Net cash provided by operating activities		$	15,229			$	8,366			$	102,477			$	31,125			$	17,714
Net cash used for investing activities			(9,909	)			(17,795	)			(21,237	)			(5,844	)			(4,701	)
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities			20,343				16,816				(16,315	)			(11,516	)			(3,208	)
Net increase in cash		$	25,663			$	7,387			$	64,925			$	13,765			$	9,805

Cash flows from operating activities

Cash flows from operating activities consist of net income adjusted for certain non-cash items, including depreciation and amortization, deferred income taxes, stock-based compensation expense and excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation, as well as the effect of changes in working capital and other activities.

Cash provided by operating activities of $17.7 million in the three months ended March 31, 2014 decreased from $31.1 million in the three months ended March 31, 2013, due primarily to a $12.0 million decrease in net income and a $2.7 million decrease in cash related to changes in operating assets and liabilities, partially offset by a $1.3 million increase in non-cash expense items, primarily consisting of depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation expense. Changes in cash flows related to operating assets and liabilities primarily consisted of a $111.6 million decrease in cash due to the timing of payments associated with our accounts payable and accrued liabilities, partially offset by a $54.0 million increase in cash due to timing of accounts receivable collections and the factoring of certain receivables in the three months ended 2014 and a $48.6 million increase in cash due to utilization of inventory in the three months ended March 31, 2014 compared to an increase in inventory in the three months ended March 31, 2013.

Cash provided by operating activities of $102.5 million in 2013 increased from $8.4 million cash provided by operating activities in 2012, due to a $54.9 million increase in cash related to changes in operating assets and liabilities, a $28.3 million increase in net income and a $10.9 million increase in non-cash expense items, primarily consisting of depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense, excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation and inventory-related write-offs. Changes in cash flows related to operating assets and liabilities primarily consisted of a $67.4 million increase in cash due to the timing of payments associated with our accounts payable and accrued liabilities, as well as a $10.4 million increase in cash due to timing of accounts receivable collections and the factoring of certain receivables in 2013. This was partially offset by a $11.9 million decrease in cash due to increased inventory purchases in preparation of the launch of our HERO3+ capture devices and a $6.8 million decrease in cash due to increased expenditures for other assets.

Cash provided by operating activities of $8.4 million for 2012 decreased from $15.2 million in 2011. The decrease in cash provided by operating activities resulted from a $19.5 million decrease in cash related to changes in operating assets and liabilities partially offset by increases in net income of $7.7 million and non-cash expense items of $5.0 million, primarily consisting of depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense, inventory-related write-offs and deferred taxes. Changes in cash flows related to operating assets and liabilities primarily

 

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consisted of a $33.9 million decrease in cash due to timing of accounts receivable collections and a $31.0 million decrease in cash due to increased inventory purchases to meet the growing demand for our products. These were partially offset by a $42.9 million increase in cash due to the timing of payments associated with our accounts payable and accrued expenses related to inventory purchases and a $2.7 million increase in deferred revenue.

Cash flows from investing activities

Cash used in investing activities of $4.7 million in the three months ended March 31, 2014 decreased from cash used for investing activities of $5.8 million in the three months ended March 31, 2013 due to $1.1 million of reduced expenditures on property and equipment.

Cash used in investing activities of $21.2 million in 2013 increased $4.0 million from cash used for investing activities of $17.8 million in 2012. The increase was primarily due to purchases of property and equipment of $18.3 million and cash used in the acquisition of General Things, Inc. net of cash acquired of $2.9 million.

Cash used in investing activities of $17.8 million in 2012 increased $7.9 million from cash used for investing activities of $9.9 million in 2011. This increase was comprised of increases in purchases of property and equipment of $15.8 million offset by a reduction in acquisition spending of $8.0 million.

Cash flows from financing activities

Our financing activities used cash of $3.2 million in the three months ended March 31, 2014. Cash flow used in financing activities in the three months ended March 31, 2014 consisted primarily of repayments of long-term debt of $3.0 million.

Our financing activities used cash of $16.3 million in 2013. Cash flow used in financing activities in 2013 consisted primarily of repayments of long-term debt and repayments of our revolving credit facility of $46.0 million, partially offset by borrowings under the revolving credit facility of $30.0 million.

Our financing activities provided cash of $16.8 million during 2012. Cash flow provided by financing activities consisted primarily of the issuance of an aggregate of $137.6 million of long-term and revolving credit facility (net of issuance costs), a tax benefit of $4.2 million upon exercise of non-qualified stock options and proceeds from the issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options of $2.8 million. These were partially offset by a cash dividend of $117.4 million and repayment of $10.4 million of indebtedness under our revolving credit facility and notes payable.

Our financing activities provided net cash of $20.3 million during 2011. Cash flow provided by financing activities consisted primarily of issuance of preferred stock of $19.7 million and a stockholder cash contribution of $6.1 million, partially offset by cash distributions of $5.1 million to stockholders to cover income taxes arising from S corporation earnings.

 

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Contractual obligations

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2013:

 

(in thousands)		Total				1 year (fiscal 2014)				2-3 years (fiscal 2015 and 2016)				4-5 years (fiscal 2017 and 2018)				More than 5 years (beyond fiscal 2018)
Term loan principal and interest(1)		$	118,606			$	63,652			$	54,954			$	—			$	—
Operating leases(2)			32,243				7,681				13,368				10,614				580
Sponsorship commitments(3)			34,423				18,526				15,596				301				—
License financing arrangement(4)			3,600				3,600				—				—				—
Other contractual commitments(5)			4,365				1,896				2,469				—				—
Capital equipment purchase commitments(6)			3,607				3,607				—				—				—
Total contractual cash obligations		$	196,844			$	98,962			$	86,387			$	10,915			$	580

 

(1)

Interest payments were calculated using the applicable rate as of December 31, 2013. See Note 9 of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

(2)

We lease our facilities under long-term operating leases, which expire at various dates through May 2019. The lease agreements frequently include leasehold improvement incentives, escalating lease payments, renewal provisions and other provisions which require us to pay taxes, insurance, maintenance costs or defined rent increases.

 

(3)

We sponsor sporting events and athletes as part of our marketing efforts. In many cases, we enter into multi-year agreements with event organizers and athletes.

 

(4)

In August 2013, we entered into a license agreement with the Santa Clara Stadium Authority which gave us rights during the agreement term to season tickets for a National Football League team. The cost of the license was $4.0 million, of which $3.6 million remains to be paid as of December 31, 2013 and was recorded as a short-term liability.

 

(5)

In 2013, we purchased software licenses and engaged outside consultants to assist with upgrading or implementing our financial and IT systems, which require payments over multiple years.

 

(6)

We enter into contracts to acquire equipment for tooling and molds as part of our manufacturing operations. In addition, we incur purchase commitments related to the manufacturing of our POP displays by third parties. We have revised the previously disclosed amount for capital equipment purchase commitments as of December 31, 2013 to correct this amount.

As of March 31, 2014, our sponsorship commitments decreased to $22.1 million, as we amended a sponsorship agreement that would have expired in 2015, to expire in 2014. Our capital equipment purchase commitments increased to $8.3 million as of March 31, 2014. In addition, as of March 31, 2014, we fully repaid the license financing arrangement with the Santa Clara Stadium Authority.

We subcontract with other companies to manufacture our products. During the normal course of business, we and our contract manufacturers procure components based upon a forecasted production plan. If we cancel all or part of the orders, we may be liable to our suppliers and contract manufacturers for the cost of the unutilized component orders or components purchased by our contract manufactures. Our consolidated financial position and results of operations could be negatively impacted if we are required to compensate our suppliers or contract manufacturers for any liabilities incurred due to these purchase contract commitments.

The table above excludes the liability for uncertain tax positions of $8.6 million as of December 31, 2013, due to the uncertainty of when the related tax settlements will become due. As of March 31, 2014, the liability for uncertain tax positions was $9.1 million.

Sale of receivables

During 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, we sold accounts receivable, without recourse, of $71.1 million and $31.3 million, respectively, from a retail customer to a third-party

 

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banking institution. Factoring fees of $0.6 million and $0.3 million in 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, respectively, related to this sale were included in interest expense.

Off-balance sheet arrangements

During the periods presented, we did not have any relationships with unconsolidated organizations or financial partnerships, such as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes.

Critical accounting policies

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that can significantly impact the amounts we report as assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses and the related disclosures. We base our estimates on historical experience and other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ significantly from these estimates under different assumptions and conditions. We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance as these policies involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity.

Revenue recognition

Revenue is derived from the sale of our capture devices, as well as the related implied post contract support, or PCS. We recognize revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred, the sales price is fixed or determinable and collectability is reasonably assured. Evidence of an arrangement consists of an order from our retailers, online customers or distributors. We consider delivery to have occurred once title and risk of loss has been transferred. Customer deposits are included in accrued liabilities on the Consolidated balance sheets and are recognized as revenue when all the criteria for recognition of revenue are met.

Our standard terms and conditions of sale do not allow for product returns other than under warranty. However, we grant limited rights to return product for certain large retailers and distributors. Estimates of expected future product returns are recognized at the time of sale based on analyses of historical return trends by customer class. Upon recognition, we reduce revenue and cost of sales for the estimated returns. Return trends are influenced by product life cycle status, new product introductions, market acceptance of products, sales levels, product sell-through, the type of customer, seasonality, product quality issues, operational policies and procedures and other factors. Return rates can fluctuate over time, but are sufficiently predictable to allow us to estimate expected future product returns. Actual returns in any future period could differ from our estimates, which could impact the revenue that we report.

For customers who purchase products directly from our website, transfer of risk of loss is determined to be upon delivery to the customer’s address. We defer those sales made to customers who purchase products from our website in the last four days of the reporting period for which we estimate delivery to occur in the following period. We use estimates to determine when shipments are delivered based on third-party metrics for average transit time. Additionally, we provide a 30-day money back guarantee for web-based sales for which we reduce revenue by an estimate of potential future product returns related to the web-based sales, based on analyses of historical return trends and seasonality. Estimates for web-based sale returns and estimates to derive web sale shipment delivery dates may differ from actual results.

 

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Our products include multiple elements. We have determined our multiple element arrangements generally include two separate units of accounting: the first element is the hardware component (camera and accessories) and the embedded firmware essential to the functionality of the camera delivered at the time of sale. The second element is the implied right for the customer to receive PCS included with the purchase of our products. PCS includes the right to receive, on a when and if available basis, future unspecified firmware upgrades and features as well as bug fixes, email and telephone support.

We account for each element separately and allocate fees from the arrangement based on the relative selling price of each element. Revenue allocated to an undelivered element is recognized over an estimated service period. We recognize revenue for delivered elements only when all contractual obligations have been completed.

We use best estimate of the selling price, or BESP, to determine allocation of revenue. BESP reflects our best estimates of what the selling prices of elements would be if they were sold regularly on a stand-alone basis. We believe that BESP is the most appropriate methodology for determining the allocation of revenue for multiple element arrangements.

We have allocated revenue between our multiple elements using the relative selling price method which is based on the BESP for all deliverables. Revenue allocated to the delivered hardware and the related essential software is recognized at the time of sale provided the conditions for recognition of revenue have been met. Revenue allocated to PCS is deferred and recognized on a straight-line basis over the estimated term of the support period, which is estimated to be one year based on historical experience. As of December 31, 2012 and 2013 and March 31, 2014, deferred implied PCS revenue was $3.8 million, $6.4 million and $7.4 million, respectively.

Sales incentives

We offer sales incentives through various programs, consisting primarily of cooperative advertising and marketing development fund programs. We record cooperative advertising and marketing development fund programs with customers as a reduction to revenue unless we receive an identifiable benefit in exchange for credits claimed by the customer and can reasonably estimate the fair value of the identifiable benefit received, in which case we will record it as a marketing expense. In addition, we offer price protection discounts to certain customers when new capture device models are released and the customer has remaining inventory of the older models. We estimate price protection discounts, which are recorded as a reduction of revenue, by evaluating inventory held by the customer subject to price protection. We record reductions to revenue for sales incentives when the related revenue is recognized.

Inventories

Inventories consist of finished goods and component parts, which are purchased from contract manufacturers. Inventories are stated at the lower of average cost or market on a first-in, first-out basis. Our assessment of market value requires the use of estimates regarding the net realizable value of our inventory balances, including an assessment of excess or obsolete inventories. We determine excess and obsolete inventories based on an estimate of the future demand for our products within a specified time horizon, generally 12 months. The estimates used for future demand are also used for near-term capacity planning and inventory purchases and are consistent with revenue forecast assumptions. If our demand forecast is greater than actual demand, we may be required to record an excess inventory charge, which would decrease

 

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gross profit. Any write-downs taken establish a new cost basis for the underlying inventory. For all periods presented, inventories were predominantly comprised of finished goods.

POP displays

We sponsor a program to provide retailers with POP displays in order to facilitate the marketing of our products within retail stores. The POP displays contain a video display that broadcast video images taken by GoPro cameras with product placement available on the POP display for our cameras and accessories. We generally provide these POP displays to customers free of charge. The costs of the POP displays, less any fees charged to customers, are capitalized as a long-term asset, and the net cost is recognized over the expected period of the benefit provided by these assets, which is generally 24 months. POP display amortization included in sales and marketing expense were $3.6 million, $8.6 million, $13.5 million and $4.5 million for 2011, 2012, 2013 and the three months ended March 31, 2014, respectively.

Warranty

We generally provide 12-month warranty coverage on all of our products except in the EU where we provide a two-year warranty. Our warranty provides for repair or replacement of the associated products during the warranty period. We establish a liability for estimated product warranty costs at the time product revenue is recognized. The warranty obligation is affected by product failure rates and the related use of materials, labor costs and freight incurred in correcting any product failure. Should actual product failure rates, use of materials or other costs differ from our estimates, additional warranty liabilities could be required, which would reduce our gross profit.

Income taxes

We utilize the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for expected future consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting and income tax bases of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates. We make estimates, assumptions and judgments to determine our provision for income taxes and also for deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowances recorded against our deferred tax assets. We assess the likelihood that our deferred tax assets will be recovered from future taxable income and, to the extent we believes that recovery is not likely, we establish a valuation allowance.

The calculation of our current provision for income taxes involves the use of estimates, assumptions and judgments while taking into account current tax laws, our interpretation of current tax laws and possible outcomes of future tax audits. We have established reserves to address potential exposures related to tax positions that could be challenged by tax authorities. Although we believe our estimates, assumptions and judgments to be reasonable, any changes in tax law or our interpretation of tax laws and the resolutions of potential tax audits could significantly impact the amounts provided for income taxes in our consolidated financial statements.

The calculation of our deferred tax asset balance involves the use of estimates, assumptions and judgments while taking into account estimates of the amounts and type of future taxable income. Actual future operating results and the underlying amount and type of income could differ materially from our estimates, assumptions and judgments thereby impacting our financial position and results of operations.

 

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We include interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits within income tax expense. We have not incurred any interest or penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in any of the periods presented.

We have adopted ASC 740-10 “Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes” that prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken in our income tax return, and also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition.

Goodwill, acquired intangible assets and other long-lived assets

Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired in a business combination. Goodwill is not amortized but we perform an annual qualitative assessment of our goodwill during the fourth quarter of each calendar year to determine if any events or circumstances exist, such as an adverse change in business climate or a decline in the overall industry demand, that would indicate that it would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount, including goodwill. If events or circumstances do not indicate that the fair value of a reporting unit is below its carrying amount, then goodwill is not considered to be impaired and no further testing is required. If further testing is required, we perform a two-step process. The first step involves comparing the fair value of our reporting unit to its carrying value, including goodwill. If the carrying value of the reporting unit exceeds its fair value, the second step of the test is performed by comparing the carrying value of the goodwill in the reporting unit to its implied fair value. An impairment charge is recognized for the excess of the carrying value of goodwill over its implied fair value. For the purpose of impairment testing, we have determined that we have one reporting unit. There has been no impairment of goodwill for any periods presented.

Our long-lived assets consist of property and equipment and acquired intangible assets. Acquired intangible assets with definite lives are amortized on a straight-line basis over the remaining estimated economic life of the underlying products and technologies. We review our definite lived long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of a long-lived asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of an asset group is measured by comparing its carrying amount to the expected future undiscounted cash flows that the asset group is expected to generate. If it is determined that an asset group is not recoverable, an impairment loss is recorded in the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset group exceeds its fair value. There has been no impairment of long-lived assets for any periods presented.

Stock-based compensation

We account for stock-based compensation activity using the fair value method, which requires the measurement and recognition of compensation expense for all share-based payment awards based on estimated fair values. This method requires companies to estimate the fair value of stock-based compensation on the date of grant using an option pricing model. We use the Black-Scholes option pricing model to measure stock-based compensation. The Black-Scholes model determines the fair value of share-based payment awards based on the fair value of the underlying common stock on the date of grant and is affected by assumptions regarding a number of highly complex and subjective variables. These variables include, but are not limited to, the fair value of the underlying common stock, expected volatility over the term of the

 

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awards and actual and projected employee stock option exercise behaviors. In addition, we are required to estimate the expected forfeiture rate and only recognize expense for those shares expected to vest. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of the stock-based awards represent management judgment. As a result, if factors change and different assumption are used, the stock-based compensation expense could be materially different in the future. Compensation expense relating to employee stock awards is recorded on a straight-line basis.

Stock awards issued to non-employees are accounted for at fair value. We believe that the fair value of the awards is more reliably measured than the fair value of services received. We record compensation expense based on the then-current fair values of the stock awards at each financial reporting date. Compensation recorded during the service period is adjusted in subsequent periods for changes in the stock award’s fair value until the earlier of the date at which the non-employee’s performance is complete or a performance commitment is reached, which is generally when the stock option award vests. Compensation expense relating to non-employee stock awards is recorded on a straight-line basis.

Determining the fair value of stock-based awards on the grant date requires the use of estimates and assumptions, including the fair value of our common stock, exercise price of the stock option, expected volatility, expected life, risk-free interest rate and dividend rate. We estimate the expected volatility of our stock options by taking the average historical volatility of a group of comparable publicly traded companies over a period equal to the expected life of the options. Since we have undergone significant operational and structural changes, the historical exercise data do not provide a reasonable basis upon which to estimate expected life. As a result, we used the simplified method, as provided under SAB Topic 14.D, “Share-Based Payment,” to calculate the expected term estimate based on the options vesting term and contractual terms. The risk-free interest rate is the estimated average interest rate based on U.S. Treasury zero-coupon notes with terms consistent with the expected life of the awards. The expected dividend yield is zero as we do not anticipate paying any recurring cash dividends in the foreseeable future and the prior dividend event is viewed as a one-time capital event. We estimate the forfeiture rate of our stock-based awards based on an analysis of our actual forfeitures, analysis of employee turnover and other factors. The impact from a forfeiture rate adjustment would be recognized in full in the period in which the forfeiture rate changes and, if the actual number of future forfeitures differs from our prior estimates, we may be required to record adjustments to stock-based compensation expense in future periods.

As of March 31, 2014, the aggregate intrinsic value of vested stock options, unvested stock options, unvested RSUs and unvested restricted stock awards was $489.6 million, $87.4 million, $13.7 million and $9.4 million, respectively, based on the initial public offering price of $24.00 per share. The amount of unearned stock-based compensation related to unvested stock options at December 31, 2013 and March 31, 2014 was $22.8 million and $32.6 million, respectively. As of each of December 31, 2013 and March 31, 2014, the weighted-average period over which the unearned stock-based compensation expense related to stock options is expected to be recognized was 1.0 year. The amount of unearned stock-based compensation currently estimated to be expensed with respect to unvested RSUs at March 31, 2014 was $4.7 million. As of March 31, 2014, the weighted-average period over which the unearned stock-based compensation with respect to unvested RSUs is expected to be recognized was 4.2 years. The amount of unearned stock-based compensation currently estimated to be expensed with respect to unvested restricted stock awards at December 31, 2013 and March 31, 2014 was $7.4 million and $6.2 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2013 and March 31, 2014, the weighted-

 

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average period over which the unearned stock-based compensation with respect to unvested restricted stock awards is expected to be recognized was 1.4 years and 1.6 years, respectively.

 

		Years ended December 31,												Three months ended March 31,
		2011				2012				2013				2013				2014
Expected life (years)			5.0–6.1				5.1–6.1				5.3–6.1				5.9-6.1				5.4-6.3
Risk-free interest rate			1.1%–2.4%				0.8%–2.4%				0.8%–2.4%				1.0%–1.2%				1.8%–2.0%
Volatility			56%–59%				56%–60%				56%–60%				56%				55%–56%
Dividend yield			0%				0%				0%				0%				0%

We have granted options to purchase shares of common stock as follows:

 

Grant date

Number of options granted