The impact of the epidemic continued to spread, and the demand for drones dropped sharply. As the world's largest manufacturer of drones, DJI's living conditions have attracted much attention from the outside world.
In late August, foreign media reported that DJI was planning to lay off14,000 people worldwide. When this news came out, the scientific and technological circles were in an uproar. What kind of problems does DJI face?
Company-wide layoffs?
In this regard, Xie Qindi, Director of Innovation Public Relations of DJI, said in a circle of friends: "On August 15, Reuters reported that the US government banned Alibaba. A few hours later, Reuters announced that this was false news. Considering that the total number of people in DJI is *** 14000, according to Reuters, there is no one in this company. I suggest the bullet fly for a while. "
If you carefully read the original text of foreign media, you will find that this is indeed a translation error. The original text of foreign media is "The company is considering slimming down among about14,000 employees", which was fermented by domestic media and turned into a real funny own goal.
Even if the number is ridiculously high, DJI must face the fact of "layoffs".
Foreign media reported to DJI that the sales and marketing team of its Shenzhen headquarters has been reduced from 65,438+080 to 60, a reduction of nearly two-thirds. The global production team has shrunk by more than 90%, from 40-50 people to about 3 people.
On the Internet, from Pulse to Zhihu and even Tik Tok, employees who call themselves DJI post information about layoffs.
DJI does face a series of challenges.
Fight for the future
This year, due to well-known reasons, people's travel opportunities have been greatly reduced. UAV, a product with outdoor as its main application scenario, has naturally been left out in the cold, and the demand has dropped sharply. "It can only turn gray at home," said one user.
In addition to unforeseen accidents, the city has gradually begun to criticize drones. Cities have introduced "flight ban", which has restricted the flying range of unmanned aerial vehicles and indirectly dampened the purchasing enthusiasm of potential consumers.
Consumer UAV has always been the flagship product of DJI business. Its consumer drone business contributed more than 80% of the total revenue, accounting for more than 70% of the global consumer drone market.
But now, the drone market has become saturated, and in recent years, negative news such as internal corruption, sudden death of employees and secret layoffs have been exposed one after another. DJI has not released revenue data.
In order to seek a breakthrough, DJI has launched many new products in recent years, including plant protection drones, sports cameras, handheld ptz and educational robots ... but these products have not received the expected market response, or are still in the market stage, or it is difficult to commercialize. In short, DJI still relies on the drone business.
Externally, DJI's competitors have gradually become a climate, and there have been companies of the same type as Feifei, Yihang and Zero Intelligence Control, all of which have bypassed the competition with DJI in their main business and tried to overtake in the manned field of low-altitude drones, plant protection, police security and surveying and mapping markets.
There are challenges, but there is also hope.
In important overseas markets, a report shows that DJI occupies the first place in the American market, with an absolute advantage of 77.2% offline market share, which is more than three times that of all other brands.
The advantage of DJI in the consumer drone market is still obvious. In addition, DJI is exploring many fields, such as agriculture, medical imaging, education and even autonomous driving.
Coupled with Robomaster S 1 Mecha, agricultural plant protection machine and livox, an internally hatched lidar company, this step taken by DJI is to fight for the future.