GoPro is cutting 270 more jobs in their attempt to retain company value
posted Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 12:00 PM EST
GoPro is planning on cutting 270 more jobs this quarter, this in addition to the 100 cut a year ago and the 200 back in November. This news came in addition to a pre-announcement of first quarter earnings released yesterday, which shows GoPro meeting their goal of hitting the "upper end of its previously announced $190-210 million range" in profitability. The job cuts are said to be part of the company's desire to reach "full-year non-GAAP profitability for 2017." That statement was given by GoPro’s founder and CEO Nick Woodman in tandem with that pre-announcment press release.
Forbes is reporting that one of their sources claims those cuts are primarily targeting GoPro's virtual reality and broadcasting wings, though this has not been confirmed by the company. This would make sense, however, if true. GoPro has made it clear they aim to trim down their business and focus on core products, and their VR OMNI array has yet to see progress after being announced with pricing nearly a year ago.
GoPro has had a rough go of it ever since going public. With their action cameras meeting market saturation and new models failing to properly differentiate themselves from existing products, GoPro has struggled to continue the swell of growth that was seen during their early days. The struggles and subsequent recall of the original Karma drone did little to assuage investors of GoPro's ability to continue to grow and innovate. Despite a successful relaunch of the drone, GoPro's stock reacted tepidly.
That said, after news of more job cuts and the pre-announcement of first quarter earnings, GoPro stock jumped 11 percent and continues to be on the rise this morning.
Seen via TechCrunch