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GoPro more than decimates staff

by on01 December 2016


Wants to focus on its core

GoPro is cutting 15 percent of its workforce in a move to focus on its core camera products.

More than 200 employees will be exiting the building with their pot plants and personal possessions in re-used photocopy boxes. We guess they will not be uploading the footage to YouTube.

The company also said it would cancel current open positions and close down its entertainment division.

The moves are part of a cunning plan to reduce operating expenses to about $650 million next year, and it would also take charges of between $24 million and $33 million related to the restructuring. Most of those charges are expected to be incurred during the fourth quarter of 2016.

This is the second round of job cuts by GoPro this year. The company laid off 100 employees, or about seven percent of its staff, in January.

One of those going is company president Tony Bates, who will step down by the end of the year. Bates has been with GoPro since 2014 and before joining the company was an executive vice president at Microsoft and chief executive officer of Skype Technologies when Microsoft acquired it for $8.5 billion in 2011.

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman said the layoffs and shut down of the entertainment business were necessary as the company is trying to streamline its operations, with an emphasis on the cameras and other hardware products that spurred its initial run of success.

“Consumer demand for GoPro is solid and we’ve sharply narrowed our focus to concentrate on our core business,” Woodman said in a statement. “We are headed into 2017 with a powerful global brand, our best products, and a clear roadmap for restored growth and profitability in 2017,” he said,

Last modified on 01 December 2016
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