GoPro putting itself up for sale

[jtvang125]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/gopro-has-hired-jp-morgan-to-put-itself-up-for-sale.html

I'm surprise they lasted this long. It was basically a niche market and whose products were just minor upgrades of the one before. All the Chinese knock-offs at 1/4 of the price pretty much sealed their faith. I did kind of want one back then but the impulse quickly died when I learned of their price and my hate of the fish eye view.

 

[EXCellR8]

i could potentially see Redbull or some other sports/entertainment company going for this. i've only ever owned one GoPro, a hero 3+, and between mountain biking and autosport I've only used it a handful of times. it's a good product, but definitely not worth it when there are much cheaper alternatives with comparable video quality. a good run, though.

 

[jtvang125]

Well the only thing of real value now is their brand recognition. Their tech is nothing special and can now be found in many competitors. Anyone thinking of picking them needs deep pockets to absorb the cost because it's going to be tough selling $400-500 action cams in a market flooded with comparable ones for $100.

 

[Rifter]

GP is so overpriced its insane, literally selling for 4-5x what its worth. im surprised they havent gone bankrupt years ago. Anyone who buys them better be getting a great deal.

 

[YuliApp]

i have used them since day one and been happy, but yes, price is way too high. I am pretty sure they got really lot of sales, i can see them in about every auto magazine videos etc.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I have a GoPro Hero clone. Same cube form-factor. It earned Runcam a threat from GoPro over infringement. They had to pull it out of US stores, but I got one from the final batch before the redesign. As soon as I heard the news of discontinuing, I bought myself one. Definitely does better HDR, but I think the details may be fuzzier.
But yeah, it cost a tad below $100.

 

[jpeyton]

I bought a Hero Session for a tropical vacation a couple of years back; paid around $150 I think. Love the cube form factor, video quality, and durability.

But I definitely saw the writing on the wall with their failed effort to break into the drone market, and to continue pushing $400+ high-end action cameras that nobody was buying.

 

[krumme]

Never got one. But they gave us this commercial
https://youtu.be/A3PDXmYoF5U

 

[paperfist]

Damn just looked at their stock quote, glad I sold a while ago before I really took a bath.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Nobody is idiotic enough to buy them out until they go bankrupt.

And jesus christ $400+ for a outdoor action cam without OIS.

I'm still kicking about how I vastly underestimated the utter irrationality of the stock market that once rewarded them with sky high valuations, even when they had a business model that screams "CHINA PLEASE COMMODITIZE ME" from the start. I could have made big bank.

 

[corkyg]

Death from phonecams + high price.

 

[mikeymikec]

Hmm, not a thread about AI doing weird and wonderful things.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Been toying with getting a Session, I Like how small they are. You can't really compare a dedicated camera with a phone. Depending on what you're doing and want to record you may also want to actually use your phone. Like if you are recording something for a long duration, or you want to stick it on yourself etc. Phones are kinda awkward to record with if you want to place the camera on an object or yourself or place it in a certain position.

 

[DigDog]

actually the story is quite weird.

gopro had some really solid sales, and was doing very well. they decide to float the company.

speculators mess up and the IPO value plummets. snowball effect causes the share price to go into the ground.

two idiots who know nothing about wall street do a brainstorming and decide to rebrand themselves as a media company. the investors are horrified and the bottom falls out.

gopro hire JPM, this causes *some* glimmer of hope, makes the shares go slightly up, prompting everyone who invested in gopro to recoup as much as they can and makes the value finally hit near-zero.

 

[DarkLense]

That is actually bad that they gone down it was a good idea.