Connected speaker maker Sonos could be heading towards an initial public offering (IPO), according to a new report.
Sonos has posted new job opportunities to its website that hint at the possibility of the company wanting to go public. One of them, a corporate controller position, requires that applicants have “current public company experience.” Another, for a new general counsel, asks for someone who has experience as a general counsel or deputy general counsel at “a multi-billion dollar public company.” Variety earlier discovered the postings and reported on them.
Of course, job postings are not necessarily a smoking gun that an IPO will even happen. Companies often seek new employees with public company backgrounds to bring some of what they know and have learned to their own businesses. They also might do it in preparation for the possibility of eventually going public.
However, Variety noted that the job openings explicitly say that Sonos is currently implementing SOX 404 compliance within the company, referring to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that regulates public companies. Upon compliance, private companies will often move forward with an IPO.
Exactly what all that means for Sonos is unclear. The company has been a longtime leader in the connected speaker market, thanks to a proprietary technology that allows users to play the same music on different Sonos speakers around the home. Sonos speakers can also work as surround sound setups or play different music from various sources all throughout the house.
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Sonos has been feeling pressure of late from tech giants like Apple, Google, and Amazon that have been doubling down on speakers relying on virtual personal assistants. Those devices, like the Amazon Echo and Apple HomePod, allow users to issue voice commands to control their smart home or play music. They also offer multi-room audio.
In a bid to remain relevant in the smart home space, Sonos last year released the Sonos One, a speaker that comes with the company’s signature high-quality audio and supports virtual assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant. The company has also expanded its retail presence to compete with Apple and others that are selling their speakers direct to consumers.
For its part, Sonos didn’t shy away from Variety‘s query on whether it’s considering an IPO. In a statement to the news outlet, Sonos said that it’s pleased with its current business, but added than “an IPO is something all tech companies think about.”
Sonos didn’t immediately respond to a Coins2Day request for comment on a possible IPO.