GoPro Cuts 15% Of Its Workforce, Shuts Entertainment Division

Times are tough for GoPro, the action camera manufacturer has announced today that it’s cutting 15 percent of its entire workforce and is also shutting down its entertainment division. This is part of a restructuring effort and the layoff includes 200 existing positions and cancellation of new positions that have yet to be filled. A big change at the executive level has been made as well.

Former Skype CEO and GoPro President Tony Bates has been relieved of his duties as well. It’s not clear right now whether this is due to the company’s overall performance or some other reasons. Clarity is awaited on his departure from GoPro.

GoPro aims to return to profit next year and the job cuts happen to be a necessary evil. The company needs to tighten the purse strings even more as it looks to splash some green on its balance sheets.

The company had high hopes attached to its Karma drone but it ended up having to recall all units due to some units simply losing power and falling out of the sky. The Karma drone will be sold again at some point but the initial hype surrounding it has already died and GoPro might find it hard to find many buyers for it now.

GoPro has said that its Black Friday 2016 sales were up 36 percent year-over-year in the United States and that direct online sales surged 33 percent during this period. That’s good, but not good enough yet.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: gopro