GoPro is laying off 20 percent of its staff as part of a strategic realignment

[Shawn Knight]

Recap: Founded in 2002, GoPro single-handedly created the action camera segment and played a pivotal role in the rise of video sharing sites like YouTube. The company went public in mid-2014 but by early 2016, slumping sales forced a wave of job cuts. Later that year, GoPro had to recall its Karma drone due to power issues. The downward spiral more or less started there as the company cut several hundred more jobs over the years as it struggled to make money.

GoPro on Thursday announced a strategic realignment that it hopes will cut costs by $100 million this year as the company struggles to cope with the economic impact of Covid-19.

GoPro said it is shifting to a more consumer-direct approach to drive growth in regions where it already enjoys a strong share of the market. To further reduce expenses, the company is cutting its workforce by more than 20 percent which equates to over 200 jobs. Office space will be reduced in five regions and sales and marketing budgets will also be cut, we’re told.

Furthermore, CEO Nick Woodman will forego the remainder of his salary through the end of 2020. The company’s board of directors additionally volunteered to give up their cash compensation through the end of the year.

GoPro said it plans to further reduce operating expenses to $250 million next year.

The silver lining here is that the reductions will not impact GoPro’s 2020 product roadmap, meaning we’ll still get new hardware, software and subscription products in the coming months.

Masthead credit: Stefano Garau, EpicStockMedia

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[mbrowne5061]

They need to go back to their roots a little here. The attractive thing about the original GoPros were how cheap they were and the relatively good video they produced. The company has forgotten this. Don't get me wrong, they should keep making the 'latest and greatest' action cams, but they should continue to offer older models than they do already.

Right now, you can only buy back as far as the GoPro 7, when they are on Gen 8 right now. You should be able to buy back as far as gen 6 or 5. If they can get their BOM down to $50-75, and then sell the oldest models for $150, they'll probably make far more money instead of just trying to have everyone buy more camera than they actually need.

Nikon and Canon offer their models for years, GoPro should take a page out of their playbook.

 

[Uncle Al]

Agreed, they have reached too far out of their original concept, but for them to have been able to continue without changes due to this virus is unimaginable and would have been heartless on the parts of their management.