GoPro has announced that it’s exiting the drone business, citing the challenges of turning a profit in an “extremely competitive” market.
In its earnings report today, the company said that although the Karma “reached the #2 market position in its price band in 2017, the product faces margin challenges in an extremely competitive aerial market.”
The Karma’s bad start did little to help it’s ultimate demise. Released in 2016 every unit was recalled as they literally dropped from the sky. While reviewers and pundits enjoyed its re-release the damage was already done.
On top of that CNBC is reporting today that GoPro has engaged JPMorgan to facilitate a sale of the ailing company. GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman has since confirmed that JPMorgan is in fact the company’s bank but have not currently engaged them actively in pursuit of sale only to muddy the statement further by adding,
“If there were an opportunity for GoPro to partner up with a larger organization that could help us scale the company,” he said, “that’s certainly something that we would consider.”