Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is stepping down after eight years.
Tom Conrad, a board member and former executive at Snap and Pandora, has been named interim CEO.
Patrick Spence, who joined Sonos in 2012 after a career at BlackBerry, will remain an adviser to the board until June.
Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is stepping down after eight years, following a challenging period marked by a flawed app update that upset customers and hurt the company’s growth. Tom Conrad, a board member and former executive at Snap and Pandora, has been named interim CEO, effective immediately. The company has hired a search firm to find a permanent replacement.
The app revamp, launched in May, introduced bugs, removed key features like sleep timers and alarms, and created a confusing user interface. Customers, many of whom had invested heavily in Sonos systems, were left frustrated. Despite efforts to fix the app, the damage to Sonos’ reputation was significant.
“When it doesn’t work, our customers are taken out of the moment and are right to feel that we’ve let them down,” Conrad wrote in an email to employees, according to a report by Bloomberg. “I think we’ll all agree that this year we’ve let far too many people down.”
Also read: Man orders Sonos speaker worth Rs 30,009 on Flipkart, gets this Rs 2,400 Bluetooth speaker instead
The app’s problems overshadowed the launch of new products like the Ace headphones and Arc Ultra soundbar. Sonos’ revenue dropped 16 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter, and Wall Street expects a 15 percent decline for the holiday season. Shares of Sonos fell 6.1 percent to $13.64 on Monday, continuing a downward trend since the app’s release.
Patrick Spence, who joined Sonos in 2012 after a career at BlackBerry, will remain an adviser to the board until June. He will receive $1.9 million in severance and unvested shares.
Tom Conrad, who has a tattoo of Sonos headphones, brings a wealth of experience from his roles at Pandora, Snap, and Quibi. He will earn $175,000 per month and $2.65 million in stock for his role as interim CEO.
In his memo to employees, Conrad acknowledged the challenges ahead but expressed optimism about the company’s future. “Getting back to basics is necessary, but clearly not enough to unlock the future we all envision for Sonos,” he said.
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Ayushi Jain
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