GoPro Inc founder and CEO Nick Woodman owns nearly 40% stake in the company. But he received 90% of his startup capital from his dad Dean Woodman. The company’s stock rallied 7.61% on Monday, one day ahead of the lockup expiration. As the lockup period expires on Dec.23, Senior Woodman will have the option to sell his 7.2 million shares, valued at more than $417 million.
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15.2 million shares eligible for sale
Dean Woodman’s shares make up almost 50% of the amount of GoPro shares eligible for sale on Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal. It would be interesting to see whether Senior Woodman or other eligible shareholders offload their stakes. Shares of the San Mateo-based company have surged more than 140% since its IPO in June. But the stock is down approximately 40% from the Oct.7 high of $98.
At its IPO, the company floated 17.8 million shares, or 14% of total outstanding shares. To increase the free float, the company announced a $800 million secondary offering in November. Lockup period for shareholders who participated in the secondary offering, including CEO Nick Woodman, was pushed back by another 90 days to mid-February. Otherwise, more shares would have been eligible for sale on Dec.23.
[drizzle]All eyes on GoPro’s February lockup expiration
Most analysts expect GoPro’s Dec.23 lockup expiration to be a “non-event.” It’s highly unlikely that Dean Woodman would unload all his shares eligible for sale. A small sale from him won’t grab many investors’ eyeballs. Dougherty & Co analyst Charlie Anderson said that investors are more interested in how many cameras GoPro sells rather than whether Dean Woodman is selling.
Investors and analysts are likely to watch February 17 more closely than Dec.23. According to the company’s SEC filing, lockup on a whopping 76.1 million GoPro shares is set to expire on February 17. By comparison, only 15.2 million shares will get unlocked on Dec.23.
GoPro shares jumped 2.47% to $59.43 in pre-market trading Tuesday.
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