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Karma Leads to GoPro Drone Exit

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Business is not going too well for GoPro-- the action camera maker announces it is slashing nearly 300 jobs (or over 20% of its global workforce), citing the difficulty of making a profit in an "extremely competitive" market.

Karma droneIn addition, the company says it is quitting the drone business following the non-success that was Karma. Announced back in September 2016, the Karma was GoPro's first (and last) drone. Supposed to be a great profit driver, the Karma proved to be the exact opposite. A fault causing random power losses during operation led to a November 2016 mass recall, while the specialist press compared the drone unfavourably to rivals from the likes of DJI.

GoPro still insists the Karma “reached the #2 market position in its price band in 2017," before admitting it essentially failed to turn a profit in the product category. Also to blame, at least according to the company, is a "hostile regulatory environment" in both Europe and the US that will "reduce the addressable market in the years ahead."

The announcement comes in the Q4 2017 GoPro earnings report-- one stating revenues for the quarter reach $340 million, far less from initial predictions of holiday season revenues worth $470m. This makes the quarter the worst since GoPro went public in 2014.

In a bid to boost sales the company is cutting the price of the flagship Hero 6 Black camera, but in any case GoPro will fly no more.

Go GoPro Announces Preliminary Q4 2017 Results