GoPro to cut more than 250 jobs after disappointing holiday quarter
GoPro Inc.
$1.86
11:34 01/05/24
GoPro announced that it would be undertaking a major restructuring of its business on Monday after issuing an unexpected warning on sales over the holiday period.
The action camera maker planned to axe over 250 jobs, or one-fifth of its workforce, and would be wrapping up its drone business after suffering a sharp decline in sales throughout the fourth quarter.
GoPro was expecting revenue for the three months leading to 31 December to come in at $340m, a 37% year-on-year drop from the $540.6m posted twelve months earlier.
The group blamed a $80m hit associated with its Hero camera range's "price protection" programme, by which the group would refund retailers that had purchased cameras at a higher price after GoPro opted to lower the unit's recommended retail price, as well as the Karma drone, for the 'miss'.
"As we noted in our November earnings call, at the start of the holiday quarter we saw soft demand for our Hero5 Black camera," said Nicholas Woodman, GoPro founder and chief executive.
"Despite significant marketing support, we found consumers were reluctant to purchase Hero5 Black at the same price it launched at one year earlier. Our 10 December holiday price reduction provided a sharp increase in sell-through," he added.
As of 1500 GMT, shares had tumbled 23.40% to $5.76 each.