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BUSINESS A25
                                                                                                                                                                        Friday 15 January 2016

GoPro brand stock tumbles after weak camera sales 

JOSEPH PISANI                  Shares of GoPro plummet-         Dec. 31 was about $435 mil-                                        mand, it’s still too early to  jobs. The company has
AP Business Writer             ed Thursday to their low-        lion, far below the $500 mil-                                      know if GoPro’s cameras        about 1,500 employees. It
NEW YORK (AP) — GoPro          est point since it became        lion to $550 million it previ-                                     were just a fad, said Ray-     said paying severance to
had a rough holiday sea-       a public company nearly          ously expected. That would                                         mond James analyst Ta-         laid-off workers will cost the
son. The maker of wearable     two years ago.                   mean its revenue dropped                                           vis McCourt. “We will likely   company between $5 mil-
cameras, used by moun-         GoPro launched the Hero4         31 percent from the same                                           know by the end of 2016        lion and $10 million during
tain climbers, surfers and     Session camera in July           period a year ago, when it                                         after GoPro enters the con-    the first quarter of 2016.
other extreme sports fans,     at $400, but eventually          posted $633.9 million in rev-                                      sumer drone market and         Shares of GoPro Inc. fell
said late Wednesday that       slashed the price to $199 by     enue.                                                              rolls out a new lineup of      $2.13, or 14.6 percent, to
sales of its devices were      December. The price cut          Wall Street analysts expect-                                       Hero 5 cameras,” said Mc-      $12.48 Thursday. GoPro’s
weak even as it cut the        reduced its fourth-quarter       ed the company to report                                           Court in a note to investors.  stock has lost about half of
price of its latest camera in  revenue by $21 million, the      $521.2 million in revenue                                          The San Mateo, California,     its value since it made its
half. The San Mateo, Cali-     company said.                    during the fourth quarter,                                         company said that it will      debut on the stock market
fornia, company also said it   It said revenue during the       according to FactSet.                                              cut about 7 percent of its     in February 2014 at $24 per
will cut about 100 jobs.       three months that ended          Despite the weakened de-                                           workforce, or about 100        share.q

Best Buy reports weak holiday shopping results, outlook 

This photo displays a Best Buy sign on a store in Miami, Fla. Best Buy’s shares sank Thursday, Jan.                                phones fell 7.2 percent, but   panding universe,” Joly
14, 2016, after the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain reduced its sales outlook for the                                  appliances rose 13.4 per-      said. But he noted Best
fourth-quarter as it reported weak holiday business in mobile phone and personal devices.                                          cent and consumer elec-        Buy doesn’t want to just
                                                                                                                                   tronics rose 4.3 percent.      selltechnology  products
                                                                                                          (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)  Best Buy’s domestic rev-       but rather solve a need.
                                                                                                                                   enue declined 0.8 percent,     Under Joly, who took the
A. D’INNOCENZIO                though the company im-           ended Jan. 2 compared                                              but the company said that      helm in 2012, Best Buy has
AP Retail Writer               proved its outlook for op-       with growth of 3.4 percent                                         was better than the broad-     been cutting costs, re-
NEW YORK (AP) — Best           erating income. Best Buy         during the same period a                                           er consumer electronics in-    vamping stores and boost-
Buy’s shares sank Thursday     shares tumbled almost 12         year prior. Online revenue                                         dustry, which experienced      ing training for its sales
after the nation’s larg-       percent in morning trading.      rose 12.6 percent, com-                                            deeper declines.               help as it fights off com-
est consumer electronics       The disappointing results        pared with growth of 13.4                                          During an conference call      petition from online leader
chain reduced its sales out-   underscore the challenges        percent a year ago. Look-                                          with the media Thursday,       Amazon and big discount-
look for the fourth-quarter    for Best Buy as it tries to re-  ing ahead, the company                                             Hubert Joly, Best Buy’s        ers like Wal-Mart. It’s also
as it reported weak holiday    energize sales growth that       expects a 1.5 percent de-                                          chairman and CEO , said        been rolling out services
business in mobile phones      has been inconsistent.           cline for its domestic busi-                                       that he had expected that      like shipping goods from
and personal devices.          Best Buy said that domes-        ness, compared with its                                            sales of mobile devices        all its stores, which means
The Minneapolis-based          tic same-store-sales, a key      previous expectations for a                                        would be weak as fewer         speedier deliveries. Mean-
company said it now ex-        measure of a retailer’s          nearly flat performance.                                           customers upgraded their       while, Best Buy has been
pects a larger drop in         health, fell 1.2 percent         During the nine-week peri-                                         devices because of a lack      improving the shopping
fourth-quarter revenue,        in the nine-week period          od, computing and mobile                                           of new  technology. But        experience at the stores.
                                                                                                                                   he said sales were softer      It’s also been working with
                                                                                                                                   than expected and the          big suppliers like Samsung
                                                                                                                                   declines more than offset      to develop home theaters.
                                                                                                                                   sales growth in home the-      It has also been catering to
                                                                                                                                   ater, major appliances and     shoppers’ increasing inter-
                                                                                                                                   wearable tech items like       est in “smart home” tech-
                                                                                                                                   smart watches. Excluding       nology— the ability to turn
                                                                                                                                   mobile phones, domestic        down the heater remotely,
                                                                                                                                   revenue increased year         for example.
                                                                                                                                   over year.                     This holiday season, the
                                                                                                                                   Joly said  technology  inno-   chain dropped all restric-
                                                                                                                                   vations are expanding into     tions for free shipping. The
                                                                                                                                   other categories like cloth-   company typically requires
                                                                                                                                   ing, and he expects Best       customers to spend at least
                                                                                                                                   Buy to embrace that.           $35 in order to receipt free
                                                                                                                                   “You almost have an ex-        shipping.q

Southern Comfort brand sold to Sazerac in $543.5M deal 

BRUCE SCHREINER                premium liqueur brand.           come gain of about $475                                            and Tuaca, he said: “Both      keting campaigns in recent
Associated Press               Sazerac President/CEO            million for the company in                                         brands played important        years to try to reinvigorate
Southern Comfort’s parent      Mark Brown said the fam-         fiscal 2016, it said.                                              roles in the Brown-Forman      the brand.
company said Thursday          ily-owned, privately held        Brown-Forman CEO Paul                                              success story, and we will     Brown-Forman said last
that it is selling the iconic  company was excited to           Varga said the sale reflect-                                       have fond memories of the      month that net sales for the
brand to a rival liquor com-   acquire the two brands           ed the Louisville, Kentucky-                                       enjoyment they brought         Southern Comfort brand
pany as part of a $543.5       and looks forward to “years      based company’s evolving                                           to consumers, our partners     had dropped by 7 per-
million deal.                  of successful brand build-       portfolio strategy and its fo-                                     and to Brown-Forman.”          cent in the first half of the
Brown-Forman Corp. said        ing.”                            cus on top-priority brands.                                        Brown-Forman acquired          company’s fiscal year. The
its Southern Comfort and       The sale is expected to          Brown-Forman’s dominant                                            Southern Comfort in 1979,      company pointed to weak
Tuaca brands will be sold to   close by March 1, Brown-         brand is Jack Daniel’s Ten-                                        but the brand has strug-       sales at bars and restau-
Louisiana-based Sazerac.       Forman said. It will result in   nessee Whiskey.                                                    gled in recent years. The      rants and competition from
Tuaca is a relatively small    a one-time operating in-         As for Southern Comfort                                            company launched mar-          new flavored whiskies.q
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