Some modifications at Sonos. Patrick Spence, the corporate’s chief government officer (pictured above), is leaving the corporate after eight years within the job. Tom Conrad, the co-founder of Pandora and a Sonos board member, is stepping in as interim CEO beginning at present.
2024 has been a sophisticated yr for the speaker producer. The firm launched a serious replace to its software program platform that was crippled with bugs and eliminated some long-standing options.
While this might be problematic for any model, it’s a serious problem for a model like Sonos. It’s a model that’s recognized for the reliability of its merchandise. The foremost promise of Sonos audio system is which you could purchase a number of audio system, and they’ll seamlessly work collectively throughout rooms and music companies.
As a consequence, the corporate spent a ton of time fixing its software program platform and releasing app updates to re-add options and make every little thing work extra reliably. Products obtained delayed and gross sales have been down.
More not too long ago, the corporate began transport new merchandise once more with the discharge of the Sonos Ace headphones and Arc Ultra soundbar. But it looks as if the corporate’s popularity has been tarnished, and it’s going to be tough to get better — gross sales of the Ace headphones have been disappointing.
In August, the corporate laid off 100 staff, or about 6% of the corporate’s workforce on the time. Revenue fell 16% within the fourth quarter of 2024 in comparison with the identical quarter in 2023.
Tom Conrad, the corporate’s interim CEO, has had a protracted profession in tech. After founding Pandora, he joined Snap as VP of Product. He was additionally the Chief Product Office for the short-lived video streaming service Quibi. More not too long ago, he created Zero, a fasting app.
“I believe we’ll all agree that this yr we’ve let far too many individuals down. As we’ve seen, getting some vital issues proper (Arc Ultra and Ace are outstanding merchandise!) is simply not sufficient when our prospects’ alarms don’t go off, their children can’t hear their playlist throughout breakfast, their surrounds don’t hearth, or they will’t pause the music in time to reply the buzzing doorbell,” Conrad wrote in an e-mail to Sonos staff obtained by The Verge.
As Conrad’s new title suggests, Sonos’ board is looking for the corporate’s subsequent everlasting CEO. Sonos shares are at present up 3.3% in pre-market buying and selling.
