GoPro has just announced a surprise move this week. The company decided to close its drone line of business because the aircraft market is considered too competitive.
Quoted from The Verge, Tuesday (9/1/2018), the announcement of GoPro exit from the drone business was announced simultaneously with the release of financial statements. Therefore, Karma is the last product of the line of drone business made by GoPro.
In fact, in the financial statements, the company recognizes Karma managed to be in second position drone business in 2017. However, competition in the market so competitive drones make the company decided to withdraw from business aircraft drone.
According to GoPro, this decision was also taken as new policies in Europe and the United States indirectly reduced the number of drone requests. These factors make GoPro out of the aircraft business, after selling the remaining Karma inventory.
"GoPro will continue its service and support for GoPro customers," the company said in a statement.
Previously, GoPro has also reportedly been laying off a large number of its employees who are in the drone business.
Through letters received by employees who are threatened with layoffs, GoPro explained, the termination of this employment is part of the business restructuring. The goal is to align resources with business.
Although the notice of layoffs has been announced by mail, the affected employees will still work until receiving a salary on February 16, 2017.
Drone Karma Falls from the Sky while flying
For information, the GoPro drone aircraft that was released in 2016 must be admittedly less successful. In November 2016, GoPro announced the withdrawal of 2,500 units of the aircraft.
According to the information, Karma drones were withdrawn because some users reported, when flown, the drone aircraft lost energy so that it hit the ground.
It is Brian Warholak, a drone user who recently uploaded the video to a video sharing site. Initially, GoPro Karma drone flew nicely and recorded images from above.
Unfortunately, within minutes after flying 170 feet, the drone suddenly lost energy and crashed into the ground.
"I flew my GoPro Karma for the second time and suddenly the drone lost power at 170 feet and fell to the ground I have contacted GoPro Support and uploaded drone flight photos and logs," Warholak said.
GoPro also pulled back the GoPro Karma drone unit problematic. At that time, consumers were asked to refund (refund) GoPro purchases.
GoPro Sales Continue Down
In fact, GoPro product sales continue to fall. The inclusion of this camera action shooter company in 2016 even declined rather than 2015.
Due to the reduced revenue, GoPro automatically also had to lose US $ 420 million (Rp 5.6 trillion) in 2016. Due to the loss of a dealer, GoPro will inevitably have to cut its number of employees to keep the company's financial rate stable.
GoPro business lunge itself can be spelled quite suffered during the last three years. Previously, GoPro also laid off 270 employees, not only that the company also did the same to more than 200 full-time employees. As a result, the company must conduct a large-scale restructuring.
In addition, President-elect Tony Bates announced in June 2014 that he will resign by the end of 2017. He was previously Executive Vice President of Microsoft and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Skype Technologies SA.
The restructuring process reduces operating expenses by US $ 650 million or around Rp 8.6 trillion and could achieve the company's goal of returning profits this year. Meanwhile, the restructuring itself cost US $ 33 million (Rp 439 billion).