decade from $6.6 billion in 2013.
This company was founded by Frank Wang in 2006 in his dorm room at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he was a graduate engineering student.The company’s “Phantoms” have already garnered innumerable fans for their aerial footage of extreme sports, fireworks and the Niagara Falls.
According to Bloomberg, with annual revenues in excess of $8.3 billion and having over 15,000 employees in 192 locations worldwide, President Obama had stressed the need for rules governing drones after a pilot had lost control of his DJI-made Phantom and crashed it on the White House grounds January 26 this year, the day when the US head of state was touring India with his wife to attend the Republic Day celebrations of the world’s largest democracy.
Soon after the accident, Messrs SZ DJI Technology had released a software update it said would prevent drones from breaching the no-fly zone above Washington DC.Planning to double sales in 2015, SZ DJI Technology is now pushing for clearer regulations on unmanned flights. It mostly sells its products online and plans to open its own store in the Chinese city of Shenzhen in 2015, before expanding across China.
In his February 2015 interview to “Bloomberg,” the company’s 34-year old Chief Executive Officer Frank Wang had stated: “DJI is working with the US and China governments on rules for commercial and recreational uses of its aircraft. We want our consumers to say, ‘Wow, this is a product that I’ve never seen.’ Our goal is to make products that can override the ‘Made in China’ label.”
Frank Wang had told Bloomberg that DJI offered drones for about 3,000 yuan to 17,999 yuan, with about 30 percent of sales coming from the United States and 20 percent from China.“Bloomberg” had further reported in its February 12, 2015, edition: “Wang wants to capitalize on growing demand for drones to monitor public safety, shoot film footage and search disaster areas. The company he founded in 2006 now has about 2,800 employees, including in Beijing and Los Angeles, and is worth “significantly more” than the 10 billion-yuan ($1.6 billion) valuation it received last year.”
Worth over $1.6 billion, “SZ DJI Technology” is the first Chinese brand to pioneer a major new global consumer-product category.It manufactures commercial and recreational unmanned aerial vehicles for aerial photography and video graphic activities.
Meanwhile, in its November 10, 2014 edition, the “Wall Street Journal” had reported: “In just a few years, SZ DJI Technology Co has become the world’s biggest consumer drone maker by revenue, selling thousands of its 2.8-pound, square-foot devices for about $1,000 each. DJI’s four-propeller helicopters, called Phantoms, have become icons of the burgeoning drone era.”
The top US newspaper had gone on to write: “Humanitarian groups have used Phantoms to search for survivors after earthquakes, while the militant group Islamic State has used them for surveillance in Syria.”