Can This Man Save GoPro?

In January, CJ Prober took on a challenge that has become frustratingly common in techdom: turning around a publicly traded hardware company whose products are no longer hits.

Prober is GoPro Inc.'s new chief operating officer, a position that had been vacant for about two years. His promotion followed a rocky 2016, during which the action-camera maker suffered production delays for one product, recalled another and abandoned efforts to turn itself into a media company. Sales tanked, GoPro cut its forecast, and investors bolted. The rout continued this week when the shares slid to a record low after Goldman Sachs became the second firm in two days to recommend selling the stock. The shares recovered a little on Wednesday, rising about 1 percent to $8.01 at 10:24 a.m. in New York.

Prober, who joined GoPro in 2014 after holding various positions at Electronic Arts, brings solid accomplishments to the new gig, having already rebuilt his employer's engineering operations and improved clunky editing software. Even so, he'll struggle to revitalize GoPro.