The fortune of Nicholas “Nick” Woodman, the founder and CEO of GroPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) is now worth over $2 billion as the stock price of the company is continuously rising since its initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday.
GoPro surges 30% on IPO
During its first day of trading, GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) climbed 30% from its offering price of $24 per share. The shares of the company surged further to $35.75 per share on Friday.
The stock price of the maker of the most versatile action camera enjoys additional bump during its third day of trading today. The shares of GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) are trading $40.36 per share, up by over 12% at the time of this writing around 2:57 in the afternoon in New York. Its stock price is now more than 60% above its IPO price.
Woodman’s stake
Woodman sold 3.6 million shares of GoPro during the IPO. He gained $86 million in pre-tax from the sale. He still owns 52 million Class B shares of the company. His stake in the company was worth $1.2 billion based on its IPO price. Forbes estimated that Woodman’s total fortune is approximately more than $2.3 billion as GoPro’s stock continues to rise.
Woodman’s father, Dean who provided seed capital of $200,000 when GoPro was just starting is now a multi-millionaire. He currently owns a stake in the company worth $280 million.
Other investors benefitting from the continues surge of the stock price of GoPro is Foxconn Technology Co Ltd (TPE:2354). The Chinese manufacturer owns 11 million shares in the company worth $425 million. It original investment was $200 million.
GoPro is trading on euphoria
Charlie Anderson, an analyst at Dougherty & Co is the only analyst on Wall Street covering GoPro Inc (NYSE:GPRO) expressed that he was a little worried about the dramatic increase in the stock price of the action camera maker.
He said the GoPro is “obviously trading on euphoria,” but he emphasized that he was still a fan of the stock even if it is now trading more than $40 per share, above his target price of $28 per share. He explained that the rapid increase in the stock price of the company is probably because it has a small supply of shares available.
GoPro sold 17.8 million shares out of its 123 million outstanding shares during its debut. According to Anderson, the number of shares offered in the IPO was a small slice and investors unable to purchase prior to the debut are buying once it started trading, which is driving the stock higher.
