Sonos has laid off around 100 of its employees, just 14 months after the struggling smart home audio company laid off around 150 of its 1,800 workers. The timing comes amid product delays and the well-documented (and disastrous) launch of the Sonos app, not to mention the company’s earnings call last week, where investors were sure to demand accountability.
According to a statement from Sonos to a popular tech site, the once-respected company that many compared to the Apple of audio products has confirmed that it has entered a second round of layoffs following a similar round of layoffs in 2023. In the statement, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence defended the move, saying, “This action was a difficult but necessary one to ensure continued, meaningful investment in Sonos’ product roadmap while positioning Sonos for long-term success.”
Spence added that the app turmoil and, more importantly, the resolution to it, are not affected by this restructuring. He stated, “Our ongoing commitment to restoring the app and keeping our customers happy remains our priority and we are confident that today’s actions will not impact our ability to deliver on that promise.”
To be clear, Spence didn’t directly mention that the layoffs were directly related to the app. Apparently, the 100 former employees came from various departments, such as product development, marketing, software quality, and platform/infrastructure. However, it’s not hard to see that the problematic app might have something to do with the decision.
In fact, Sonos had to delay two new products to resolve the app issue, which probably shows how bad the situation is. Over the last few months, since Sonos released a major app update, users have experienced widespread issues with functionality and stability. Some have had complete loss of access to their libraries, while for others the app has completely broken their systems or messed up their settings.
The app update was so poorly received that many long-time Sonos fans have either abandoned the brand or boycotted it entirely. As for the impact on the company, fixing the app won’t be cheap. Aside from the delayed products, Spence told investors on the conference call last week that fixing the app will cost about $20-30 million. Yuck.
