Readers are likely aware of my fondness for whole-house audio and, since 2005, Sonos, a company that has roots in Santa Barbara, CA and Boston, MA. The company went public at $15 per share almost exactly eight years ago. How’s the stock done? If you don’t adjust for inflation, it’s right at its original IPO price (down from the first-day bump, though). Adjusted at official CPI, though, someone who got IPO shares is down 25 percent. Adjusted for South Florida real estate costs, the investor is down about 50 percent.
Given that state governors ordered peasants to stay home for 2-3 years in a lot of high-income states, how do we account for a home audio company having done this badly? Sony has doubled, in nominal dollars, over the same period. Consumers don’t care about multi-room audio because they always have their AirPods in and the sound thus follows them?
Did Sonos fail to jump on the social justice bandwagon or ignore Is LGBTQIA the most popular social justice cause because it does not require giving money? Certainly not!
In celebration of global Pride the Internet radio service introduced a limited-edition station, initiated by a group of LGBTQ+ employees.
Dmitri Siegel, VP Global Brand, extended his support becoming Pride@’s official executive sponsor. “I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be an ally in the Pride@ group,” he said. “As a straight white male, it’s common to feel intimidated or uncomfortable engaging on LGBTQ+ issues because you feel like you are going to say the wrong thing or be offensive in some way. Being a part of Pride@ has given me the opportunity to do my work—listen and learn. Getting over insecurity and discomfort unlocks all these amazing people and a whole aspect of the human experience that I would otherwise miss out on.”
The article references a corporate tweet:
The station was still up and running a year ago:
How about this month? The radio web site features state-sponsored NPR and Democratic Party-affiliated MSNBC, but I didn’t see anything about Pride.
Sonos Radio has an Instagram account. No Pride station is mentioned. (The “Full Spectrum; Celebrate Child” station is still available in the app, however.)
Sonos has an X account(!), but hasn’t posted anything for Pride 2026. Nor did they post anything regarding Pride on their (rather thin) Facebook account. Their careers page assures today’s young people that working life can be a continuous Pride celebration:
It looks as though the company has abandoned its commitment to proselytizing for Rainbow Flagism to consumers, reminding consumers that Black history is more important than other kinds of history, etc. In other words, Sonos has abandoned its principles and still can’t make money, the worst of all possible worlds for a corporation.
I still love the product, even if their lightweight powered speakers can’t overcome the laws of physics (see below regarding the latest Sonos S2 gear versus their old amps driving heavier passive (ancient) speakers). They also have great support compared to most companies. I’m wondering what they could make that would be profitable in an Apple-takes-all world.
Related:
The internet of things boom died. You’re supposed to throw away the connected speakers & get a vintage boom box now.
I don’t see how you can love this company. At best it can be tolerated. They were roundly criticized for stranding their Gen 1 stuff which I think they walked back somehow although I don’t remember what actually happened.
They abandoned the original controller and then saddled us with a POS app on which it is very difficult to find anything. Podcast access should be seamless and yet I can’t figure out how to listen to a podcast on it. I think there’s a reason the stock is where it is.
Mitch: I looked at switching to Audio Pro, https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2022/05/27/audio-pro-the-swedish-alternative-to-sonos-for-whole-house-music/
I even bought a couple of their devices and tinkered with them. I forget exactly why, but I decided that Sonos was better. Checking https://audiopro.com/collections/all-products right now and it seems that they never built an AMP. So everywhere that one has a Sonos AMP driving decent-quality passive speakers you’d have to get an Audio Pro Link and then some kind of separate amplifiers. With Sonos, as Barack Obama always says, if you like your speakers you can keep your speakers.
Have you asked your favorite investment advisor (ChatGPT) to weigh in on Sonos’ stock. It did so well with SpaceX, maybe worth another try?
Speaking of Pride Month, at my Big Company, there has been absolutely no mention of Pride this month or even this year. Even more surprising, there has been no mention of DEI either.
Last year, and especially the years before, Pride and DEI were a weekly topics.
Does this mean my Big Company was promoting Pride and DEI mainly to appease the previous administration?
I am curious to see what happens at the end of the year when we all have to complete the mandatory online training. That is when I will find out whether the DEI course is still on the list, the 90-minute course that you can not fast-forward through, followed with test that you have to pass at 80% or more.