Action camera maker GoPro, once worth more than $10 billion, just announced that founder Nicholas Woodman will provide $20 million in funding to keep the company afloat.
That’s Nicholas Woodman, who previously earned more than $284 million in a 12-month period, making him the highest-paid CEO in the United States that year.
Woodman, who remains a billionaire thanks to years of GoPro stock and compensation, is increasingly becoming a lender of last resort.
As a token of condolence for the company’s stock price, which has fallen 99% since its peak, he will return some of the wealth he earned running the business.
Through Woodman and related entities, he has agreed to hold $20 million in senior secured notes and warrants to purchase Class B shares, which are already vested with majority voting rights.
Woodman took this as a vote of confidence. “My financing reflects my enthusiasm for GoPro and its several advancement opportunities,” he said in the announcement, adding that the independent board of directors considered various financing options and concluded that the structure offered the most advantageous terms for GoPro and its shareholders.
GoPro was trading at over $98 per share on October 7, 2014. Yesterday’s closing price was $0.73, down 99%.
From the highest paid CEO to the lender of last resort
Even by 2014 standards, Mr. Woodman’s executive compensation package was extraordinary.
Mr. Woodman received 4.5 million restricted stock units three weeks before GoPro’s June 2014 initial public offering, which by the end of the year was worth $284 million in grants, enough to rank No. 1 on the Bloomberg Pay Index.
His personal fortune peaked at nearly $3.9 billion on the 2014 edition of the Forbes 400, tracking the hype for affordable cameras for sports and outdoor content creators.
But the delta between then and now defines the story.
GoPro shareholders made Woodman a billionaire. Today, those same shareholders rely on him to finance their operations.
By 2018, GoPro had already cut Woodman’s salary to $1. The gesture was supposed to seem humble and sacrificial, except to those who remember that his GoPro stock and compensation keep him a billionaire.
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GoPro stock has fallen about 48% since the beginning of the year and more than 93% over the past five years. The company’s market capitalization currently stands at about $123 million, less than one year’s worth of Mr. Woodman’s top executive compensation.
Revenue also fell from $1.6 billion in 2015 to about $650 million in 2025.
GoPro made a profit of $128 million in 2014. After years of losses, shareholders’ equity turned negative by the first quarter of 2026.
Rescue operations continued. The company borrowed $50 million from Farallon Capital Management in August 2025, after which Woodman’s family trust bought $2 million in stock in November.
In May 2026, the Board began considering strategic alternatives. By June 2026, SEC filings included a going concern warning.
Woodman’s $20 million is the latest patch, with the capital this time coming directly from the founders.
