San Mateo, California — For years, GoPro was the go-to video camera for outdoor sports enthusiasts. However, its stock price has collapsed since its peak in 2014, now selling for under $2 per share. What happened?
In his latest video, Company Man dove into the rise and fall of GoPro. He explains why GoPro became popular and what differentiated it from the rest of the market.
In the second half of his video, he gives three reasons why they’ve struggled since 2014: an inefficient company structure, the inability to expand their product offerings, and a narrow market.
The inefficient corporate structure was caused by doubling its workforce a year and a half following its Initial Public Offering (IPO). Becoming bloated has resulted in multiple layoffs over the past decade. Another mistake was giving founder and CEO Nick Woodman a huge payday in 2014.
To expand their product offerings, they attempted to create shows and enter the drone business. Their attempt to create a TV series with the help of former executives from Hulu and HBO Sports failed immensely, and they abandoned it entirely in 2016. Their winning new product should have been expanding into the drone business. However, rushing out the Karma led to serious issues for customers, leading to a recall and eventually its discontinuation.
Finally, the GoPro is typically used only by outdoor enthusiasts, a narrow market. This is narrowed down by the fact that many prefer to use their smartphones to capture action shots. In addition, new products, like the Insta360 camera, are taking away more customers from consumers.
I think he made some good points, but one factor comes to mind from my perspective: It’s an expensive purchase. I paid roughly $300 for my GoPro Hero 9 back in 2020 and have needed to buy additional parts over time for ski filming purposes. In addition, having to pay for an annual membership is not a great incentive to keep loyal customers. It’s a pricy purchase, leading people to search for other products.
Image/Video Credits: GoPro, Company Man
