Sonos CEO Patrick Spence has left his post, and board member Tom Conrad was appointed acting head of the company today. The decision was the culmination of an eight-month crisis that began following the scandal over the failed release of a new Sonos app in May.
Image source: Sonos
The hastily released app turned out to be crude and lacking important features that it had before, leading to massive user dissatisfaction, a public apology on behalf of the company, a string of layoffs, and a drop in employee morale. The release of Sonos Ace headphones, which allegedly caused the rush and release of a half-baked app, failed to distract attention from the current situation. Headphone sales have been disappointing, and Sonos forums are flooded with complaints and criticism, journalists from The Verge report.
In October, Sonos unveiled a plan to repair its reputation, promising to improve its development processes, increase transparency and prevent similar mistakes in the future. The company also turned to an anti-crisis PR agency for help. However, three months later it became clear that these measures were not enough. The board of directors and Spence himself decided to resign from the post of CEO of the company.
«We will begin the search for a new leader who can move forward with the team,” said Sonos spokeswoman Erin Pategas. At the same time, the company ruled out returning to the old version of the application, continuing to correct errors and return lost functions in the new version. However, user complaints about bugs and unstable operation continue to this day.
Let’s remember that Patrick Spence, who headed Sonos since 2012, during his work released devices that gained wide popularity, including the Arc Ultra soundbar, the powerful speaker for open spaces Move and the portable Roam. However, the app scandal and Spence’s failure to issue a personal apology have damaged his reputation. Spence will remain with the company until June 2025 in a consulting role at a salary of $7,500, and then receive a severance package of $1.875 million.
Image source: theverge.com
Now Conrad, who joined the board of directors in 2017, is faced with the task of regaining the trust of employees and customers. He previously held key positions at Pandora, Snapchat and Quibi. Despite the crisis, Sonos continues to develop new products, including a video streaming device that could compete with major companies such as Apple, Roku and Amazon.