Staff
What the hell is a DJI? Dee Jay Eye. It sounds so boring and slightly hard to say. Well, unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few years or if you have zero interest in the multi-billion dollar industry that is all things drones, then you may not have ever asked yourself that question. It’s synonymous with the biggest drone companies out there.
DJI stands for Dajiang Innovation Technology Company (DJI). Bottom line, it’s not one of the biggest drone companies out there, it’s the biggest. It’s founder is 36-year-old Frank Wang Tao. DJI accounts for 70% of the consumer drone market, according to Frost & Sullivan. And as mythical as the make of the Phantom series of drones sounds, DJI is a real company, and Wang is very real indeed.
According to an interview the Forbes, Wangbuilt that robot that a U.S. government intelligence employee crashed in a drunk stupor on the White House lawn. He also created the one that a protester used last month to land a bottle of radioactive waste on the roof of the Japanese prime minister’s office and developed the one a smuggler used to sneak drugs, a mobile phone and weapons into a prison courtyard outside of London in March.
The idea of people using your product to break laws and social boundaries would give most CEOs nightmares, but the inconspicuous mastermind behind the world’s drone revolution just shakes it off.
And he’s only 36-years-old.
Here are facts about DJI and Frank Wang you may not have been aware of:
- DJI is currently the largest drone manufacturer
- Frank Wang founded DJI in 2006
- DJI started selling drones in China in 2008
- DJI started sellign drones outside of China in 2009
- DJI revenue was more than $500K in 2009
- DJI revenue in 2012 SKYROCKETED to $26M
- The DJI Phantom was released in 2013 for $679.00
- DJI revenue SKYROCKETS AGAIN to $500M in 2014
- DJI anticipated to be worth $1B in 2015
- Frank Wang owns approximately 45% of DJI
Where will DJI go next? We can’t wait to find out.
Image: Forbes