Extreme camera maker GoPro (GPRO) saw its stock dip almost 10% Thursday after the company’s founder and CEO, Nicholas Woodman, announced that he is gifting roughly 5.8 million GoPro shares to a charity run by Woodman and his wife.
The issue for investors is that the San Mateo, Calif., -based company’s IPO launched at the end of June and the lock-up period, during which GoPro’s officers and directors had promised not to flood the market with additional shares, was not slated to end until Dec. 22. JPMorgan Securities, which served as lead book-runner on the IPO, has released the charity, called The Jill + Nicholas Woodman Foundation, from the standard lock-up restriction, which means the shares can legally be sold starting Friday, the company said. The shares going to the charity are equal to more than 28% of those sold as part of the company’s initial public offering earlier this year.
The exact nature and mission of The Jill + Nicholas Woodman Foundation is not currently known, but the founder and his wife said more information on the charity “will be released at a later date.”
“We wake up every morning grateful for the opportunities life has given us. We hope to return the favor as best we can,” the Woodmans said in a statement. The shares being gifted will come directly from the Woodmans’ own holdings.
And, while the move may be legal, the Woodmans’ decision to skirt the lock-up restrictions certainly isn’t sitting well with investors. The company’s stock shaved more than $8 off of its value already today, though GoPro shares would still have quite a way to fall to return to their pre-IPO pricing of $24 per share. GoPro’s stock has been a hot property since going public and the company’s shares remain up by roughly 165% since they launched.
