We have another day of developing stories of staff cuts, and this time the layoffs announcements come from GoPro. The camera maker’s recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings revealed that the company is planning to start trimming headcount by 23% in the second quarter of 2026, and expects to complete these cuts by the end of the year. GoPro downsizing news joins a long list of cuts across organizations and industry, hitting jobs in everything from tech to media and entertainment.
Reports have linked these GoPro job cuts to cost-cutting measures to bring down current expenses on operations, with little information available on whether these cuts will center on certain areas of the business or across its operations. As the tech company layoffs in 2026 continue to grow in number, workers’ woes over these changes similarly escalate.
The GoPro layoffs will affect about 23% of the organization’s workforce, costing it between $11.5 million and $15 million in 2026. (Image: Pexels)
The Gopro Layoffs in 2026 Are Expected to Affect Nearly a Quarter of Its Workforce
San Mateo company GoPro’s restructuring plans remain shrouded in some mystery for now, although we know that around 145 roles will be affected. This accounts for about 23% of its headcount of 631 employees, and the cuts will be completed by the end of the year. GoPro’s Board of Directors reportedly approved the job cuts on April 7 as a result of their desire to “reduce operating costs and drive stronger operating leverage.”
While the CEO has leaned towards the positives to suggest business growth with its three newly released TAM-expanding hardware products and other software offerings, data from November last year showed that the company’s sales had declined by nearly 37% year-over-year. Despite the decline, CEO Nicolas Woodman stated that the company expected to “return to revenue growth and profitability beginning Q4 2025 and in 2026,” and the cost-cutting measures appear to be an additional consideration to ensure such profitability.
The company’s March earnings release showed that revenue was down 19% from the previous year, and it incurred a loss of $9 million in its fourth quarter. Amidst rising competition, high manufacturing expenses, and shifting consumer buying habits, GoPro has struggled to maintain its footing. From tariffs to increasing memory costs, the organization has had considerable challenges to confront in operations.
The GoPro Restructuring in 2026 Is Not Without Its Costs
Layoffs are expensive prospects for businesses that are willing to offer a halfway decent severance package, and such is the case with the GoPro layoffs. The company has not revealed what it will offer to its workers by way of pay and benefits, but the action-camera company expects that the cuts will cost between $11.5 million and $15 million.
This is expected to account for the severance packages and the healthcare benefits that will be extended to employees. The company expects to incur $1.5 million of these costs in the current quarter, $5.5 million to $8 million in Q3, with the rest spread out over the remainder of the year.
The last such instances of job cuts at GoPro were seen in August 2024, when the company cut around 139 jobs or 15% of its workforce for similar cost-cutting goals. At the time, the company expected to see charges in the range of $5 million to $7 million for these reorganization plans. As is commonly seen, shares of the company went up 1.5% after the layoff announcements, which is another reason why organizations look at job cuts so fondly.
Are the Costs of Layoffs Worth the Benefits That Await in Operating with a Reduced Workforce?
The GoPro layoffs announcement tells us very little about how these cost-cutting efforts will be beneficial to the business, especially when layoffs are an expensive process in their own right. The minor hike in share value and investor confidence may not appear to be considerable enough as a benefit to make a shrunken workforce worth the effort it takes to conduct layoffs, however, for most organizations, these benefits add up in the long run.
Layoffs are often a risky strategy, but they are still seen as preferable over other solutions, such as cutting employee pay for the entire organization, as it risks the exit of a smaller number of workers rather than the workforce as a whole. Organizations that overhired during the COVID-19 pandemic have continued to lay off workers to “right-size” the business. But there is a limit to how frequently the excuse can be reused, leaving businesses to turn to other explanations for their layoffs.
For the most part, organizations see layoffs as a one-time expense on employee benefits and severance. Most find it easier to write off compared to repeated payroll expenses and the possibility of upcoming promotions, where the expenses go a step higher. Layoffs also allow businesses to experiment with operating with a smaller team to assess whether it is feasible to keep the systems running with fewer hands.
Despite these explanations and assumptions, layoffs and job cuts affect all workers, even those who are allowed to stay. The mental toll on workers is hard to quantify and thus goes unacknowledged. However, these considerations must be addressed when an offer of layoffs is set on the table.
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