Strategy in TECH...
On Monday, Sonos, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONO), in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), revealed that Deirdre Findlay, Sonos Chief Commercial Officer, had resigned from her position with the company on February 19, 2025. This is yet another top executive, in this case, a top marketing position, to leave the company.
Hey Colorado integrators, you’ve got a guy on the inside now! Benjamin Larkin, President of renowned Denver AV retail and custom integration company ListenUp, has been appointed to the Colorado State Electrical Board. Appointed by Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Larkin brings an integrator’s perspective into a government regulatory body.
Sonos announced the financial results for its first quarter of Fiscal 2025, the 90-day period that ended on December 28, 2024. It was sobering news – Revenues declined over 10%, Operating Income collapsed almost 40%(!), and Net Income slid 38%. These poor results show that Sonos is starting out 2025, not as bad as 2024…it’s starting out worse.
Yet some outlets on Wall Street reported Sonos results were “better than expected.” With these numbers, how is that possible? Read on…
Sonos has announced that it is launching yet another reorganization (it had one in 2024, and another one before that in 2023) with a “reduction in force” this time impacting 12% of its entire workforce. It seems remarkable that at a time when it continues to struggle to extricate itself from the La Brea tar pits it fell into via 2024’s app disaster, one of its first solutions is to let people go. More than 1 out of every 10 employees has been terminated to “…improve the Company’s operating model and cost structure to set the Company up for long-term success.”
Another sign of a deteriorating consumer outlook arrived last Friday in the form of the Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS), another highly respected data resource from the University of Michigan that is widely followed by economists, financial analysts, Wall Street, the Federal Reserve Board, government officials, the media, and more. Widely viewed as a reliable indicator of how consumers are feeling about their current circumstances, as well as their outlook for the future, and their expectations for inflation – it is a leading indicator of future economic direction.
The preliminary result of the ICS for February registered a significant drop in consumer sentiment. What is spooking consumers?
Sonance announced on Wednesday that it has named Tyler Kungl as Vice President of Luxury Residential Sales. Another in a series of recent hires, Sonance looks to be on the move, strategically increasing market presence and dealer support for various markets, both domestic and international.
Voxx International Corporation (Nasdaq: VOXX) has released its Form 10-Q report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealing its financial results for its third quarter – the 90-day period ending on November 30, 2024 – as well as the year-to-date nine-month period ended the same date for Fiscal 2025. It is a sobering report of a company struggling to get to the altar with Gentex while its financial foundation is increasingly shaking.
The surprising results answer some questions, yet raise others as revenues continue to decline and losses mount.
On Wednesday, ProSource CEO Jim Pearse notified members of one of the industry’s largest dealer buying groups that Premium Audio Company – a subsidiary of Voxx International Corporation that oversees its audio brands Onkyo, Integra, and Klipsch – is being dropped from its assortment. This is big news and comes at a difficult time for Voxx which is in deep due diligence for its acquisition by Gentex Corp.
Gentex Corporation (Nasdaq: GNTX) announced its financial results for the fourth quarter (4Q) and full year (FY) of Fiscal 2024. The results spooked investors as the company appeared to be cruising to a solid, probably single-digit growth year through the first three quarters. In fact, the company was predicting a year of record net sales through the first nine months of 2024. Then…the fourth quarter happened…
Analysts on an earnings call had a lot of questions about management’s guidance miss, the reasons for the performance decline at the end of the year, and what the company plans to do with Voxx when the deal finally closes.
I’m sorry to report that highly esteemed marketing and PR executive Peter Hoagland has died. The cause of his death was Glioblastoma (cancer of the brain), an illness he fought since his retirement four years ago. Hoagland’s 40+ year career in consumer electronics – where he helped an almost uncountable number of brands achieve greater success – has resulted in his influence reaching far and wide throughout our industry. Many industry folks know Peter and know him well, as evidenced by the many tributes to him popping up all over social media.
