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GoPro cuts staff, considers selling company after weak holiday sales

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/news/01/09/gopro.jpg"/><figcaption>A GoPro Hero 3+ camera is seen at the Nasdaq Market Site before GoPro Inc&#x27;s IPO in New York City, June 26, 2014. Mike Segar, Reuters/FILE PHOTO</figcaption></figure></div>NEW YORK - GoPro said Monday it would cut more than 20 percent of its staff and signaled it was willing to consider a sale following weak holiday-season sales.The camera and technology company said it would cut its workforce of 1,254 to fewer than a thousand.GoPro also plans to exit the drone business and chief Nicholas Woodman will accept a salary of just $1 this year. The company&#x27;s share price plummeted amid the disappointing reports.A source told AFP that GoPro hired JPMorgan Chase to advise it on strategic options, including a possible sale.Woodman earlier told CNBC that the company expected to remain independent, but would consider a sale.&quot;If there are opportunities for us to unite with a bigger parent company to scale GoPro even bigger, that is something that we would look at,&quot; Woodman told CNBC.&quot;Of course we need to run the business as though we&#x27;re going to be independent, and we&#x27;re planning accordingly.&quot;GoPro projected fourth-quarter sales of $340 million, well below the $474 million expected by analysts.Midway through the holiday season, GoPro slashed prices on some camera models, which lifted sales but lowered profit margins.&quot;Despite significant marketing support, we found consumers were reluctant to purchase HERO5 Black at the same price it launched at one year earlier,&quot; said Woodman, adding that the company &quot;is committed to turning our business around in 2018.&quot; And although GoPro&#x27;s Karma drone was the number two offering in its price division, the company will exit the &quot;extremely competitive&quot; drone market, it said.&quot;A hostile regulatory environment in Europe and the United States will likely reduce the total addressable market in the years ahead. These factors make the aerial market untenable,&quot; GoPro said.GoPro will no longer market drones after it sells off remaining inventory, but will continue to provide services and support to Karma customers, it said. Near 2010 GMT (4:10 a.m. Tuesday in Manila), shares of GoPro were down 13.5 percent at $6.52 after falling as low as $5.04 earlier in the session.<div> © Agence France-Presse</div>

GoPro said Monday it would cut more than 20 percent of its staff and signaled it was willing to consider a sale following weak holiday-season sales.

GoPro said Monday it would cut more than 20 percent of its staff and signaled it was willing to consider a sale following weak holiday-season sales.