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Sonos files to go public, has sold over 19 million devices

Sonos files to go public, has sold over 19 million devices

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The popular speaker company has announced plans for an IPO

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Sonos officially filed for an initial public offering today, marking a major step as the audio company tries to stand out in a world of smart speakers. The company, which was founded in 2002, has grown into a dominant force in the speaker industry, with a name that is all but synonymous with the concept of multi-room audio setups. Sonos will trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbolSONO.”

The filing is also a good look at some of the numbers behind Sonos’ business. As of March 31st, the company reported having sold 19 million products in roughly 6.9 million households around the world, a statistic that speaks to one of Sonos’ biggest strengths. At an average of nearly 3 speakers per customer, the figures are confirmation that people who buy one Sonos device are likely to continue to build out their setup by buying more. Sonos also touts the fact that its customers tend to listen to “80 percent more music” after buying their first Sonos product.

Sonos’ filing also revealed a deeper look at its recent earnings. Recent numbers seem impressive, with the company generating $655.7 million in revenue in the six months from October 2017 to the end of March this year, with a net income of $13.1 million.

But the company’s $992.5 million in revenue in the 2017 — despite being up 10 percent from 2016 — wasn’t enough to put the company in the black, with a net loss for the fiscal year of $14.2 million. The company also notes that 55 percent of that revenue was generated outside the United States.

Sonos also points out that its current business model is highly reliant on integration with other services and partners, like Spotify, Apple, and Amazon. The company also notes in the filing that, in particular, its partnership with Amazon that gives the Sonos One and Sonos Beam access to Alexa can be revoked by Amazon with “limited notice” — meaning that Amazon could in theory end the Sonos integration if it decides that it wants less competition for its own Echo speakers (which, based on the company’s ongoing spat with Google over Chromecast sales and YouTube on Amazon devices, seems at least within the realm of possibility).

Sonos first filed paperwork for its listing with the SEC back in April, per a report from the Wall Street Journal, which estimated that its market valuation may be around $2.5 to $3 billion.