Happy New Year: GoPro Dumps Hundreds of Workers

Consumer Electronics

Published: January 6, 2018 8:20 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:45 am

GoPro Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GPRO) lack of direction under bumbling CEO Nick Woodman has cost hundreds of workers at the company their jobs. A report from tech news site TechCrunch puts the number at 200 to 300, mostly in the corporation’s drone division.

Nick Woodman was recently named one of 24/7 Wall St.’s 20 worst CEOs in America in 2017. His citation:

GoPro was initially a significant growth company that sold its helmet-mounted action cameras for extreme sporting enthusiasts. Founder and CEO Nick Woodman scraped together cash from family and from selling shell jewelry and belts out of a Volkswagen van to launch GoPro.

The rise of the company was quite impressive. Unfortunately, even considering the newer drone sales, GoPro more or less still feels like a one-hit wonder. Its stock vaulted higher after the IPO, moving to $93.70 in September 2014. Since sales tanked in 2016, however, GoPro shares have languished at less than $10. The stock’s faltering performance alone would spell out a call for outside help to run the company.

According to a CNBC story on Woodman in early 2017, GoPro ran into production problems, and new launches have failed to engage the public. The company missed out on capitalizing on the rise and dominance of smartphones.

In addition to running GoPro, Woodman has undertaken philanthropy and was a guest-host on “Shark Tank,” the entrepreneur reality funding show. There may be too much going on in Woodman’s life and he needs to focus more on GoPro.

Sales of those drones may have become much less impressive recently. The company’s Karma drone had sold well, so presumably either sales have fallen of margins are poor. The drone did have a battery problem that caused GoPro to temporarily suspend sales. However, with a fix, it was back on the market early last year.

GoPro trades near its 52-week low, at $7.52 a share, against a range of $11.99 to $7.14. The stock is off 17% in the past year, while the Nasdaq has risen 30%.