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GoPro exits drone market and slashes jobs amid sales warning

It's been a bad year, dude

Action camera maker GoPro is exiting the consumer drone market and slashing 254 roles after issuing a sales warning.

GoPro issued a sales warning for its fourth quarter results of $340m (£250m) for the three months to end of December - down 37 per cent on what it previously turned over for the same period last year. It has not issued details of its profits.

The company attributed part of that to the $80m hit it had taken on its Hero camera range, as well as the Karma drone.

It said the Karma product "faces margin challenges in an extremely competitive aerial market. Furthermore, a hostile regulatory environment in Europe and the United States will likely reduce the total addressable market in the years ahead.

"These factors make the aerial market untenable and GoPro will exit the market after selling its remaining Karma inventory."

GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman commented: "Despite significant marketing support, we found consumers were reluctant to purchase HERO5 Black [camera] at the same price it launched at one year earlier. Our December 10 holiday price reduction provided a sharp increase in sell-through."

Once the company has completed its restructuring, it will be left with 1,000 employees worldwide.

For the full-year 2016/17 the company made $1.2bn in sales, a drop of 27 per cent on the previous year. It made an operating loss of $26m.

GoPro's full-year results are expected next month. ®

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