I read this today in a different forum. I don't know th author, but found this believable, and troubling:
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This will be posted in the next few days- the author is still working on it. But many employees have changed their linkedIn profiles to record the fact that they were laid off
JI is a privately-held company and, unlike Amazon or Apple, it does not need to provide quarterly statements or annual reports to the public. The absence of such reports makes it near impossible for outsiders to get a sense of how the company performs. Especially after recent rumors of layoffs and drastic reorganization, many people, including myself, have been wondering what is going on with DJI. To find out more, I have reached out to several people close to the DJI organization, and I have been contacted by former DJI employees to help create a clearer picture of what is happening within DJI.First DJI's sales and profits tankedInformation we received from DJI insiders, and people closely related to the company, indicate that sales for March may be down by as much as 80% year-over-year. Profits are reportedly down even more. The dramatic decrease in sales is directly linked to the rapid spreading coronavirus, although sales had been down already due to the implemented trade tariffs and the increasing geopolitical tensions between the U.S and China. It seems that DJI saw the coronavirus as an excellent opportunity to clean their house and reorganize its business, resulting in a large number of layoffs across its organization.The layoffs appear not only to be limited to the U.S. offices of DJI. We have received reports of similar organizational changes in Europe and in Shenzhen, China.In the U.S., most of the layoffs seem to have impacted the Burbank, California office, where reportedly mostly older and Caucasian employees were let go. Other DJI offices in Cerritos, CA, Palo Alto, CA, and New York, NY, have seen layoffs as well.Most of the layoffs in the U.S., during which about 30% of total staff lost their jobs, took place unceremoniously around March 27th. A second round, however, is rumored to take place around April 25th, which may result in about half the total U.S. staff having lost their jobs."By May 1st, DJI will have laid-off over 50% of U.S. staff. This is support staff, repair staff, marketing staff, and software engineering staff - across all divisions in all U.S. sites from Burbank to Cerritos to Palo Alto to NYC," said a senior legal adviser to DJI who has direct firsthand knowledge. "Large quantities of layoffs have occurred internationally, and more will follow as well."The Cerritos offices are DJI's primary repair and maintenance facility for the North American market. Even though select repair centers in Canada also perform basic repairs, any issues related to flight log decryption or analysis are dealt with in California or back in Shenzhen, China.In Burbank, CA, where DJI's marketing and sales operations are based, as many as 20 out of 40 employees reportedly lost their jobs. Some of these positions are allegedly now filled by ex-Huawei employees.DJI's New York offices are much smaller, housing only about 15-20 people. About five people reportedly lost their jobs at this location.Many of DJI's long term partners and dealers did not receive any upfront warning about the changes that were about to take place in the organization, leaving many of them wondering what had happened to their account managers.One former employee said that "DJI terminated 30% of [its] employees with any advance notice, with only a few days left till the end of the month and end of health insurance coverage, during the worst pandemic that has hit the world in recent years."DJI's "heavy-handed and unprofessional approach" to the layoffs saw people being escorted out of the buildings by security and without any severance packages. The same senior legal adviser, I quoted earlier, said:"DJI showed a remarkable lack of empathy and professionalism in discarding some very loyal employees. Even though economically DJI is seeing a massive reduction in revenue and had to reduce employment positions, the way they handled this was unconscionable and reflects in such a bad way on the culture of this company. It isn't cultural as relating to China- because we deal with many other massive Asian companies. It is cultural to DJI."Return DJI's drone hardware or else...Some of the former employees were asked to return any drone equipment and other hardware belonging to DJI within a week of receiving their termination notice. This request was nearly impossible to comply with, given the coronavirus lockdown situation in New York and California. Allegedly, some former employees were threatened with law enforcement seizure and legal action for 'theft' of company property, simply because they were unable to transport significant amounts of drone hardware back to the offices within the limited timeframe provided by DJI.The situation at DJI's head offices in Shenzhen, China, is not much better apparently. Many of the drone makers employees, half of whom are still working from home, were asked to come into the offices for a meeting. After the layoffs were announced and after handing over any equipment, they were cut off from work email and escorted out of the building. The layoffs occurred across DJI's consumer, enterprise, and agriculture departments.While we do not have any specific information about any layoffs in Europe, it seems that they did not escape unscathed.DJI diversifies its product offering to offset diminishing drone salesAs we have seen a dramatic slow down in drone sales over the last two years, it comes as no surprise that DJI has been looking to diversify its product offering. The company has had the Ronin-S, the Osmo, and the Osmo Mobile products for some time. Still, more recently they added the Osmo Pocket, Robomaster S1, Osmo Action, and made a big push into the LiDAR market with its subsidiary LIVOX.Frank Wang has allegedly hired a Huawei consultant to advise him on how to restructure DJI in these turbulent times. In combination with China now having become DJI's largest market, this has led to more Chinese employees being pushed into strategic positions within the company. Many international employees fear that with these changes, concerns in the U.S. about DJI's treatment of data security might no longer receive the attention they deserve. DJI's strategic focus now seems to be on producing good hardware and less so on offering the services and software that customers in Europe and North America are asking for.Mario Rebello's recent departure from DJI is an example of how things have changed within DJI. During his time with the drone maker in North America, Rebello was very focused on convincing the various departments of the U.S. government that DJI drones could be safely used. The company worked closely together with the Department of the Interior to develop a special 'Government Edition' that would make it impossible for certain drones to transmit any information over the internet and thus possibly back to China.Besides having hired a Huawei consultant, DJI's founder Frank Wang has allegedly brought a number of ex-employees from shuttered Huawei U.S. offices into DJI's Burbank location. Many of DJI's international staff oppose this move as Huawei's influence and a poor approach to U.S.-China relation has caused their company to be shut out of the U.S. market. And most believe that it would be best for DJI to distance itself from any Huawei association in light of the current geopolitical tension.We have received information that Mario Rebello will likely not be the last high-ranking U.S. executive to leave DJI, as reportedly four more senior people are looking to exit the organization in the near future.DroneXL's takeThe layoffs and overall changes in the organization, make you wonder what will be in store for DJI in the next few years. Specifically, in the U.S. market, where trade relations with China have been very tense. Will enthusiasts and pilots of unmanned aircraft, be able to buy DJI drones going forward. I think so, especially with DJI's recent announcement, but if there ever was a time for an American drone company to get its share of the market now seems to be an ideal time. Skydio? Impossible Aerospace? Anybody else?Almost all of the information has been presented to me by anonymous sources. These include former DJI employees as well as people who have been working closely for a significant time with the drone maker. I have tried my best to cross-reference the information I received and feel confident that it provides an accurate picture of what is currently happening at DJI.If you happen to be one of the people who have lost their job as a result of DJI's reorganization and would like to share your story, please feel free to reach out to me at: xxxxxxxxxxx"
"
This will be posted in the next few days- the author is still working on it. But many employees have changed their linkedIn profiles to record the fact that they were laid off
JI is a privately-held company and, unlike Amazon or Apple, it does not need to provide quarterly statements or annual reports to the public. The absence of such reports makes it near impossible for outsiders to get a sense of how the company performs. Especially after recent rumors of layoffs and drastic reorganization, many people, including myself, have been wondering what is going on with DJI. To find out more, I have reached out to several people close to the DJI organization, and I have been contacted by former DJI employees to help create a clearer picture of what is happening within DJI.First DJI's sales and profits tankedInformation we received from DJI insiders, and people closely related to the company, indicate that sales for March may be down by as much as 80% year-over-year. Profits are reportedly down even more. The dramatic decrease in sales is directly linked to the rapid spreading coronavirus, although sales had been down already due to the implemented trade tariffs and the increasing geopolitical tensions between the U.S and China. It seems that DJI saw the coronavirus as an excellent opportunity to clean their house and reorganize its business, resulting in a large number of layoffs across its organization.The layoffs appear not only to be limited to the U.S. offices of DJI. We have received reports of similar organizational changes in Europe and in Shenzhen, China.In the U.S., most of the layoffs seem to have impacted the Burbank, California office, where reportedly mostly older and Caucasian employees were let go. Other DJI offices in Cerritos, CA, Palo Alto, CA, and New York, NY, have seen layoffs as well.Most of the layoffs in the U.S., during which about 30% of total staff lost their jobs, took place unceremoniously around March 27th. A second round, however, is rumored to take place around April 25th, which may result in about half the total U.S. staff having lost their jobs."By May 1st, DJI will have laid-off over 50% of U.S. staff. This is support staff, repair staff, marketing staff, and software engineering staff - across all divisions in all U.S. sites from Burbank to Cerritos to Palo Alto to NYC," said a senior legal adviser to DJI who has direct firsthand knowledge. "Large quantities of layoffs have occurred internationally, and more will follow as well."The Cerritos offices are DJI's primary repair and maintenance facility for the North American market. Even though select repair centers in Canada also perform basic repairs, any issues related to flight log decryption or analysis are dealt with in California or back in Shenzhen, China.In Burbank, CA, where DJI's marketing and sales operations are based, as many as 20 out of 40 employees reportedly lost their jobs. Some of these positions are allegedly now filled by ex-Huawei employees.DJI's New York offices are much smaller, housing only about 15-20 people. About five people reportedly lost their jobs at this location.Many of DJI's long term partners and dealers did not receive any upfront warning about the changes that were about to take place in the organization, leaving many of them wondering what had happened to their account managers.One former employee said that "DJI terminated 30% of [its] employees with any advance notice, with only a few days left till the end of the month and end of health insurance coverage, during the worst pandemic that has hit the world in recent years."DJI's "heavy-handed and unprofessional approach" to the layoffs saw people being escorted out of the buildings by security and without any severance packages. The same senior legal adviser, I quoted earlier, said:"DJI showed a remarkable lack of empathy and professionalism in discarding some very loyal employees. Even though economically DJI is seeing a massive reduction in revenue and had to reduce employment positions, the way they handled this was unconscionable and reflects in such a bad way on the culture of this company. It isn't cultural as relating to China- because we deal with many other massive Asian companies. It is cultural to DJI."Return DJI's drone hardware or else...Some of the former employees were asked to return any drone equipment and other hardware belonging to DJI within a week of receiving their termination notice. This request was nearly impossible to comply with, given the coronavirus lockdown situation in New York and California. Allegedly, some former employees were threatened with law enforcement seizure and legal action for 'theft' of company property, simply because they were unable to transport significant amounts of drone hardware back to the offices within the limited timeframe provided by DJI.The situation at DJI's head offices in Shenzhen, China, is not much better apparently. Many of the drone makers employees, half of whom are still working from home, were asked to come into the offices for a meeting. After the layoffs were announced and after handing over any equipment, they were cut off from work email and escorted out of the building. The layoffs occurred across DJI's consumer, enterprise, and agriculture departments.While we do not have any specific information about any layoffs in Europe, it seems that they did not escape unscathed.DJI diversifies its product offering to offset diminishing drone salesAs we have seen a dramatic slow down in drone sales over the last two years, it comes as no surprise that DJI has been looking to diversify its product offering. The company has had the Ronin-S, the Osmo, and the Osmo Mobile products for some time. Still, more recently they added the Osmo Pocket, Robomaster S1, Osmo Action, and made a big push into the LiDAR market with its subsidiary LIVOX.Frank Wang has allegedly hired a Huawei consultant to advise him on how to restructure DJI in these turbulent times. In combination with China now having become DJI's largest market, this has led to more Chinese employees being pushed into strategic positions within the company. Many international employees fear that with these changes, concerns in the U.S. about DJI's treatment of data security might no longer receive the attention they deserve. DJI's strategic focus now seems to be on producing good hardware and less so on offering the services and software that customers in Europe and North America are asking for.Mario Rebello's recent departure from DJI is an example of how things have changed within DJI. During his time with the drone maker in North America, Rebello was very focused on convincing the various departments of the U.S. government that DJI drones could be safely used. The company worked closely together with the Department of the Interior to develop a special 'Government Edition' that would make it impossible for certain drones to transmit any information over the internet and thus possibly back to China.Besides having hired a Huawei consultant, DJI's founder Frank Wang has allegedly brought a number of ex-employees from shuttered Huawei U.S. offices into DJI's Burbank location. Many of DJI's international staff oppose this move as Huawei's influence and a poor approach to U.S.-China relation has caused their company to be shut out of the U.S. market. And most believe that it would be best for DJI to distance itself from any Huawei association in light of the current geopolitical tension.We have received information that Mario Rebello will likely not be the last high-ranking U.S. executive to leave DJI, as reportedly four more senior people are looking to exit the organization in the near future.DroneXL's takeThe layoffs and overall changes in the organization, make you wonder what will be in store for DJI in the next few years. Specifically, in the U.S. market, where trade relations with China have been very tense. Will enthusiasts and pilots of unmanned aircraft, be able to buy DJI drones going forward. I think so, especially with DJI's recent announcement, but if there ever was a time for an American drone company to get its share of the market now seems to be an ideal time. Skydio? Impossible Aerospace? Anybody else?Almost all of the information has been presented to me by anonymous sources. These include former DJI employees as well as people who have been working closely for a significant time with the drone maker. I have tried my best to cross-reference the information I received and feel confident that it provides an accurate picture of what is currently happening at DJI.If you happen to be one of the people who have lost their job as a result of DJI's reorganization and would like to share your story, please feel free to reach out to me at: xxxxxxxxxxx"
