Sad to report but that's how it is.
"Thats how it is" depends who is interpreting history and their perspective and bias.
But they aren't a "great company" are they? Their value has tanked
If you "value" and judge a company as a stock market investor would, and judge its "greatness" on it's stock value, you might be right, GoPro might not have been a good investment going long. However, if you shorted the stock before it fell it was a great investment. With DJI making their Mavic announcement within 1 week of the Karmas announcement, it is not a surprise that the stock price dropped, and then the technical problems of the Karma sealed its fate. I still feel that DJI was dirty when I look back at what happened. My opinion is that DJI stole or "borrowed" the whole concept from a leak at GoPro, and then rushed the Mavic to market to stomp out any desire by GoPro diehards to buy the Karma. It is no coincidence that the announcements came within 1 week of eachother. DJI was closed mouthed about the Mavic, as they always are. They NEVER tell you what products are on the horizon for the paranoid fear of a competitor coming out with something better, cheaper, and sooner. Instead you get cryptic innuendos such as "Adventure Unfolds" or "See the Bigger Picture ."
Let's also look at what happened with the Mavic release debacle/fiasco. DJI announced the sale of the Mavic, took the money of tens of thousands of customers on a product that was not ready for release. They were undersupplied, lacked the high volume production facilities, yet took the money as a "sale" instead of a "deposit." Again, dirty business in my eyes, and in the eyes of the tens of thousands who waited weeks and months while DJI ramped up for a prototypes production stream. How DJI evaded a class action lawsuit, civil penalties or criminal charges, or at least sanctioned by the FTC is beyond me.
I like to judge a company based on its customer service, history of innovation, rock solid products, and durability. In that regard, GoPro is not only a great company, but a fantastic company. When someone says that DJI is a great company, I always retort with, "Great product, terrible company."
They built a reasonable reputation on the back of a single product line that other companies now produce better and cheaper. Their failed drone venture is reasonable evidence that they are not as technically competent as they need to be to survive.
Wow, so that's why DJI didnt buy GoPro, because they built their reputation on the back of a single product line? Then why on earth would DJI buy Hasselblad????? Hasselblad was a bankrupt, single product line company, who had the best reputation in the world for high quality, durable, albeit pricey equipment. Anyone who is anyone in the photgraphy workld knows the Hasselblad name and what it stands for. DJI is proud to marquis the Hasselblad name on the front of every
Mavic 2 Pro. Was Hasselblads failure due to its technical incompetence? I dont think so. Nor was GoPros. As far as I know, GoPro is continuing to make fantastic quality cameras and has a diehard customer base.
Anyone remember the DJi Phantom 1 that used a GoPro? I do. DJI unceremoniously dumped GoPro when DJI came out with an integrated solution to the drone/gimbal challenge, yet GoPros stock value continued to climb despite that event.
A final note to this personally unpleasant topic of DJI's business ethics and valuation. Now that DJI and Microsoft have partnered together to "bring smarter drones to the enterprise," I wonder how many tricks Microsoft will teach (or DJI will glean) when it comes to stomping out the competition, stealing another companies business secrets, and tying them up in court, much like Microsoft did with the mouse and Windows GUI that I believe it stole from Apple.
