Sonos today publicly announced that it was laying off approximately 6% of its workforce, or around 100 employees. “The foregoing actions were committed to on August 14, 2024 and are intended to improve the Company’s operating model and cost structure to set the Company up for long-term success,” according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The layoffs were first reported by The Verge, initially citing unnamed sources.
The layoffs — in corporate-speak called a “reduction in force” — come nearly a week after the company announced it was delaying two shelf-ready products until major problems with its current platform are rectified. Those problems stem from an update to the software that runs the Sonos platform, as well as the customer-facing app, that was pushed out in May, just ahead of the launch of the Sonos Ace headphones. CEO Patrick Spence accepted responsibility for the software meltdown, saying that “my push for speed backfired.”
During the company’s earnings call on August 7, 2024, Spence said that fixing the software problems would cost between $20 million and $30 million in the short term. The “investments,” as he called them, “are necessary to right the ship for the long term.” Sonos’ fiscal fourth quarter is expected to take a pretty serious hit thanks to lower sales due to the current platform issues and the delay of the two new products. Sonos revised its revenue guidance for the year from $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion, down to $1.503 billion to $1.523 billion, or about $100 million or so in lower revenue. Sonos Chief Financial Officer Saori Casey said the $20 million to $30 million expenditure isn’t included in those revised revenue numbers.
Sonos laid off some 7% of its employees in June 2023 as part of a $11.4 million restructuring plan. While the company doesn’t publicly list headcount, it noted some 1,800 employees on its LinkedIn page, and that would basically match the 100-person layoff count as reported.
