147 Million Dollar Loss?

[Tsun]

Let's say this team is 10 people, each earning $80k - it comes out at 800k per year, or less than 0,55% of the loss.
We will see what happens. I think it's pretty clear that DJI prices are overblown. I always assumed it's just them using their de facto monopoly to abuse the market, but maybe there's hope...

 

[mavicn00b]

I recall some conversation about autel and the 1" sensor Evo they were working on and hem saying they couldnt get the part etc... Yet come August we get a mavic 2 with a 1" sensor.. I wonder if this has anything to do with it..

Could be BS tho and autel was never going to release it anyway.

 

[Bob in Savannah]

I'm thinking that accessories and the like might DEFINITELY be a little more readily available if not cheaper. The price isn't the issue.. The want and demand is.
Either way, I'm glad to see things become legit with the businesses I patronize!
Good job, DJI. I look forward to better customer service and a focus on technology now. Let's beat our competitors into submission with early adopting and first class support!

 

[Former Member]

Let's all hope that DJI doesn't try to make up its 147 million dollar loss by raising prices

 

[RayOZ]

DJI got defrauded by their own employees, and some consumers feel like they got scammed by DJI?
Insurance companies get scammed all the time by people making false claims, so the insurance companies charges high premium to cover these sort of thing. It's not like honest insurance holders can claim money back on their premium from insurance companies.
I don't think DJI made the loss... they just paid that much more in cost, that get passed on to customers. Will they start reducing prices on existing drones? Probably not. Those who've purchased would feel cheated, and DJI will have to deal with that, which would be a hassle, and bad for profits. E.g Cost $1000, sold $1500; 50% gross profit. Found out they got cheated, when cost should be $800. If they reduce new price to $1200 (to maintain 50% gross profit), customers who have purchased want $300 back. But DJI already had to pay $1000 to build the drones they sold, so if they give customers $300 back, their gross profit would be 20% (more than halved).
If DJI doesn't change price, there'll still be people willing to pay. Their gross profit increased to >80%. They might maybe give permanent discounts on their retail price. e.g. "$1500 Now $1400". Or the extra profit goes into more R&D to make better future drones.
So, I guess future releases, they can reduce their price, and people don't feel cheated. Fresh start.

 

[DanMan32]

The price of the M2's went up a little more than a month after release. I managed to miss the price hike.

 

[Former Member]

Internal corporate fraud never benefits the customer unless the customer is party to the fraud.

 

[RayOZ]

Someone always pays for it, usually the people at the bottom rung. Losses gets passed down the chain. Even commercial drone operators, having paid more for their drones, will pass that down to their customers in terms of rates and fees.

 

[s2seyecle]

So I guess they owe me 20% back on a bunch of my drones and other stuff I've bought from them?

Not to 'pick nits' but... that's 20% of component prices, not retail MSRP. Probably accounts for less than 2% of eventual retail price. Maybe they will make it up by increasing shipping prices ;-)

 

[Eagle Jr]

At 26 people, most of the workers related to the anti-graft campaign are from the research and development department, as well as the procurement division. Some 19 work in sales, administration, design and factories.

Aside from the sales department, all the other departments would be benign in a fraud case.

Not sure how the sales department would do fraud unless they were taking money for orders and not shipping them. That's not how business fraud works. Most of the business fraud is in procurement. It is commonly known as kickbacks and has been mostly eliminated in the US. Still a huge problem in China and most of Asia.

 

[Former Member]

Not sure how the sales department would do fraud unless they were taking money for orders and not shipping them. That's not how business fraud works. Most of the business fraud is in procurement. It is commonly known as kickbacks and has been mostly eliminated in the US. Still a huge problem in China and most of Asia.

It depends on what type of business fraud you are talking about. CEO's all the way down the line can be guilty of business fraud and sales fraud, as well as SEC violations.

If a company is considering going public, the CEO will do everything he can to bloat sales numbers to increase the IPO price of the stock, and line his pockets with the stock that he owns. Some accounting people would equate it with having a $147 million dollar inventory full of empty boxes. When it is discovered, sometimes people go to jail, especially if the fraud is uncovered after the IPO has been released. In this case, the only people that are actually reporting and investigating the fraud to the media is the company itself. Luckily, for potential investors, who are probably lining up around the block to buy stock in this company, they dodged a bullet. the stock would have tanked overnight. If this fraud had been discovered after the IPO, there would be alot of very unhappy investors, most of whom wouldnt have a shot in the dark of getting their money back. We are talking about a $10+ possible IPO offering.

I need a nap.

 

[zocalo]

DJI just issued a statement on this pledging "painful" action to tackle corruption. Some MSM coverage of the statement starting to appear as well, e.g. at the BBC.

Not a lot of detail, if that's what you are looking for, but mostly putting the blame on procedures within DJI that allowed those responsible to skim off the money. Sounds like the company may have just grown faster than its policies and procedures could keep up with and a few employees managed to take advantage of that. To put the scale of the problem in perspective they employ about 14,000 and have either dismissed or reported to police 45 of them (so far).

 

[kaz911]

DJI just issued a statement on this pledging "painful" action to tackle corruption. Some MSM coverage of the statement starting to appear as well, e.g. at the BBC.

Not a lot of detail, if that's what you are looking for, but mostly putting the blame on procedures within DJI that allowed those responsible to skim off the money. Sounds like the company may have just grown faster than its policies and procedures could keep up with and a few employees managed to take advantage of that. To put the scale of the problem in perspective they employ about 14,000 and have either dismissed or reported to police 45 of them (so far).

They might have 14000 people working there but to make fraud like that you are not bottom of the food chain staff...

And with my knowledge of Asia’en work style - each 2-4 people have 1 manager. Each 2 managers have one higher manager and so and so..... And fraud like this would probably be in the tier 3-4 management level (from top). Maybe with 1 or 2 level 2’s managers - one from procurement and one from the finance department.