GoPro laying off up to 300 employees, mostly from Karma drone division - report

Action camera maker GoPro continues to struggle to take to the skies, as the company is reportedly laying off between 200 and 300 employees this week, reflecting the performance of its aerial camera drone, the Karma.

Employees were told that the cuts were "to better align our resources with business requirements," according to TechCrunch. Affected employees are relieved of duties effective immediately, but will remain on payroll until Feb. 16.

Most of those let go are said to be from company's Karma division, responsible for the drone that launched in late 2016 but was quickly pulled from the market due to an issue that could cause it to crash. The device eventually returned to the market in February of 2017.

GoPro's primary business is its Hero cameras, which were updated last September to the Hero 6 Black, a $499 wearable that captures 4K video at 60 frames per second. It also offers a new 360-degree Fusion camera that captures the entire world around it.

GoPro's cameras boast tight integration with Apple's iOS platform, using artificial intelligence to automatically edit together clips, negating the need for a user to be familiar with iMovie or Final Cut Pro, or even access their Mac in the first place.

But as smartphone cameras — including Apple's iPhone — have improved, and as cheap action camera alternatives have emerged, GoPro has seen is share of struggles. Prior to this week, its most recent round of layoffs came in March or 2017, when it cut 270 personnel. Prior to that, it let go of 200 other employees in November of 2016.

The company's stock is down considerably from a high of nearly $87 in October of 2014. Over the last year, shares went as high as $11.69 in September, but as of Friday are currently trading around $7.60.

16 Comments

CobraGuy 76 comments · 7 Years

About 6 years ago

TheDrone business is pretty crowded.

if I wanted to spend that much on a Drone, DJI has the better product IMO.

and their action cameras are pretty speedy too.

They had a good run for a while but seems to be slowing down a good bit.

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

The fad is coming to an end!!

maciekskontakt 1168 comments · 15 Years

CobraGuy said:

TheDrone business is pretty crowded.

if I wanted to spend that much on a Drone, DJI has the better product IMO.

and their action cameras are pretty speedy too.

They had a good run for a while but seems to be slowing down a good bit.

So is camera business. Currently solutions like EKEN start killing GoPro on price with suffiicient quality action cameras. It costs fraction what GoPro costs. I tried that in ocean swimming with sharks and on power boats splashing water at high speed on them and they work no different than GoPro. Yes GoPro is sligtly higher quality at multiple times higher price. Recent EKEN release for full 4K suggests that GoPro may start losing market in... crowded camera market. And EKEN is main company brand - tjose are cameras sold under different names as well and most of them are rebranded EKEN. Some still come from Sony.

randominternetperson 3095 comments · 8 Years

"The company's stock is down considerably from a high of nearly $87 in October of 2014. Over the last year, shares went as high as $11.69 in September, but as of Friday are currently trading around $7.60."

Ouch. Yeah, I'd say a 90% drop in share price in three years is "considerably down."

I love Apple and don't object to their pointing out how many jobs they've "created," but it's not a zero-sum game.

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

Quadrocopter makers need to think ‘very big’ or ‘very small’ to grow new markets. DJI should start working on a product that is large enough to ride in. “Flying cars” and taxis are just around the corner.