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

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.