
GoPro is recalling its Karma drone - kevinbluer
http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/8/13569730/gopro-karma-drone-recall-announced
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huffpopo
The stock fell from $85 to $10. At around ~$60 the CEO sells ~$180M in stock
to buy a yacht. This may sound stupid to most people but consider this. While
yachts depreciate they depreciate less that GoPro stock, which the CEO could
have known. CEOs need an excuse to sell large chunks of stock. And given that
GoPro is* being sued for grossly misrepresenting projections the CEO can make
plausible case that he believed in his own projections no matter how
outlandish - because after all he bought a yacht. So while a yacht may look
like a ridiculous waste of money, it can actually be a very smart investment.

*or was, I don't keep that close of an eye on them.

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olex
This is not looking good for GoPro at all. The Karma hasn't had really good
reviews from the very start, and once DJI released the Mavic it basically lost
all chances of grabbing a significant portion of the market. Now this is
adding to the injury.

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grosbisou
It's dramatic... Wasn't the drone their come back strategy?

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totalZero
I saw it as a way to show off their brand, the same way that car companies
have race teams. A bunch of cool GoPro videos on YouTube, drone displays in
stores, etc. But they undersold even the conservative sales figure needed to
accomplish that marketing goal. Now it seems they have abandoned it entirely
(at least for the time being).

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yabatopia
I'm surprised by the low number. Of course, it makes it easier for a recall,
but 2,500 sold Karmas seems like a very disappointing launch for a new GoPro
product category. Or maybe drones are less popular than I thought.

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POTUS
I believe about 1 million consumer drones were sold during last year's holiday
season. So I would call that moderately popular and 2,500 doesn't seem a lot
of units in that regard.

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ljf
1 million is good but I wonder how many fall into the the Hubsan x4 category -
small 'fun' drones - some have FPV cameras, but most either have a fix
recording camera or none.

How many 'prosumer' drones sold, do you know?

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POTUS
In January of this year the FAA announced that 300k drones have been
registered in the first 30 days since the drone registration requirement went
public. I can't find any newer numbers on that though.

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TaylorGood
Why did they have to go public? Had they not, their bio would read like:

GoPro. A private company with a cool brand and strong following which sells
versatile cameras, is testing out a drone and makes millions along the way.

Of course, not every IPO leads to warmth and smiles but for this company in
particular it has seemed like such a burden.

