Item 1: Business
Overview
Sonos is one of the world's leading sound experience brands.
We pioneered multi-room, wireless audio products, debuting the world's first multi-room wireless sound system in 2005. Today, our products include wireless, portable and home theater speakers, components, and accessories to address consumers' evolving audio needs. We are known for delivering unparalleled sound, thoughtful design aesthetic, simplicity of use, and an open platform. Our platform has attracted a broad range of more than 130 streaming content providers, such as Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, and Pandora. These partners find value in our independent platform and access to our millions of desirable and engaged customers. We frequently introduce new services and features across our platform, providing our customers with enhanced functionality, improved sound, and an enriched user experience. We are committed to continuous technological innovation as reflected in our growing global patent portfolio. We believe our patents comprise the foundational intellectual property for wireless multi-room and other audio technologies.
Since we launched our first product 18 years ago, we have grown our install base by launching innovative new products, delivering a seamless customer experience, and expanding our global footprint. In fiscal 2023, existing customers accounted for approximately 44% of new product registrations. As of September 30, 2023, we had a total of nearly 46.6 million products registered in approximately 15.3 million households globally, including the addition of approximately 1.3 million new households during fiscal 2023. Our customers have typically purchased additional Sonos products over time. As of September 30, 2023, 60% of our 15.3 million households had registered more than one Sonos product. As of September 30, 2023, our households own 3.0 products on average.
Our Products
We generate revenue from sales of our Sonos speaker products, including wireless speakers and home theater speakers, from our Sonos system products, which largely comprises our component products, and from partner products and other revenue, including partnerships with IKEA and Sonance, Sonos and third-party accessories, licensing, advertising, and subscription revenue, including
Sonos Radio HD, and Sonos Pro. Our portfolio of products encourages customers to uniquely tailor their Sonos sound systems to best meet their sound and design preferences.
•Sonos speakers. Sonos speakers comprises our wireless speakers and home theater products, including:
Product
Launch Date
Description
Era 100
March 2023
Our powerful smart speaker with improved acoustics and design that delivers detailed stereo sound and deep bass. Originally launched as One in October 2017 and completely redesigned in March 2023 as Era 100.
Era 300
March 2023
Our bold, revolutionary speaker that offers the best out-loud listening experience for your favorite spatial audio content with Dolby Atmos.
Sub Mini
October 2022
Our wireless subwoofer which delivers powerful, balanced bass, rich, clear low end frequencies, in a compact cylindrical design.
Ray
June 2022
Our smallest, smart soundbar for TV, music, and more.
Beam (Gen 2)
October 2021
Our smart, compact soundbar for TV, music, and more, with support for Dolby Atmos. Originally introduced as Beam (Gen 1) in June 2018.
Roam Colors
Roam SL
Roam
May 2022
March 2022
April 2021
Our ultra-portable smart speaker with Bluetooth and WiFi for listening on the go and at home. Originally introduced as Roam in April 2021
Arc
June 2020
Our premium smart soundbar for TV, movies, music, gaming, and more, with support for Dolby Atmos. Replaced Playbar, our first smart soundbar released in April 2013 and Playbase, our powerful sound base for TVs released in 2017.
Five
June 2020
Our high fidelity speaker for superior sound. Originally launched as Play:5 (Gen 1) in November 2009 and completely redesigned in November 2015 as Play:5 (Gen 2).
Sub (Gen 3)
June 2020
Our wireless subwoofer for deep bass. Originally introduced as Sub (Gen 1) in June 2012.
Move 2
September 2023
Our portable, battery-powered smart speaker that delivers spacious stereo sound, with ultra-durable water resistant design for outdoor and indoor listening. Originally introduced as Move in September 2019.
•Sonos System Products. Sonos system products comprises our component and other products which allow customers to convert third-party wired systems, stereo systems and home theater set-ups into our easy-to-use, wirelessly controlled streaming music system, including:
Product
Launch Date
Description
Port
September 2019
Our versatile streaming component for stereos or receivers. Replaced Connect which launched in January 2007.
Amp
February 2019
Our versatile amplifier powering all our customers' entertainment. Replaced Connect: Amp which launched in September 2012.
•Partner Products and Other Revenue. Partner products and other revenue categories comprise products sold in connection with our partnerships, accessories, professional services, licensing, and advertising revenue. Products in this category comprise accessories that allow our customers to integrate our products seamlessly into their homes as well as products manufactured by and/or sold by our partners, including:
Product
Launch Date
Description
Sonos Pro
April 2023
Our software-as-a-service subscription offering for commercial audiences.
Audi Partnership
April 2021
Our first-ever automotive audio partnership delivering Sonos-tuned premium sound experience for the Q4 e-tron and further models including the A1, Q2, and Q3.
Sonos Radio HD
November 2020
Our subscription service of ad-free, high-definition streaming tier of our streaming radio, Sonos Radio.
Sonos Radio
April 2020
Our free, ad-supported streaming radio experience bringing together more than 60,000 stations from multiple streaming partners alongside original programming from Sonos.
Sonos Architectural by Sonance
February 2019
Our collection of installed passive speakers for indoor and outdoor use designed and optimized for Amp in partnership with Sonance, including in-ceiling, in-wall, and outdoor speakers.
IKEA module units
Various
Hardware and embedded software integrated into final products manufactured and sold by IKEA. Current IKEA products include SYMFONISK picture frame, bookshelf speaker, and speaker lamp.
Accessories
Various
Our custom-designed stands, mounts, shelves, cables, chargers, and more.
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Our Software
Our proprietary software is the foundation of the Sonos sound system and further differentiates our products and services from those of our competitors.
In June 2020, we introduced Sonos S2, a powerful new app and operating system to enable a new generation of Sonos products and experiences, which includes new features, usability updates, and more personalization while also enabling higher resolution audio technologies for music and home theater. In June 2022, we introduced Sonos Voice Control, the first voice experience purpose-built for listening to and controlling your music on Sonos speakers. Designed with privacy at its core, Sonos Voice Control is the simplest way to control your music, offering complete command of your Sonos system using only your voice. Sonos Voice Control works on every voice-capable Sonos speaker, processing requests entirely on the Sonos device.
Our software provides the following key benefits:
•Multi-room, multi-service experience. Our system enables our speakers to work individually or together in synchronized playback groups, powered by wireless network and Bluetooth capabilities to route and play audio optimally from all the different content services that our customers enjoy.
•Open platform for content partners. Our platform enables customers to easily search and browse for content from a list of more than 130 content partners from around the world including stations, artists, albums, podcasts, audio books, and more. Content partners can connect to Sonos via our platform and find a new and growing audience for their catalogs.
•Intuitive and flexible control. Our customers can control their experiences through the Sonos app, voice control, from Sonos devices directly, or an expanding number of third-party apps and smart devices. As our customers navigate across different controllers, our technology synchronizes the control experience across the Sonos platform to deliver the music and entertainment experience they desire.
•Smart audio tuning. Our Trueplay technology uses the microphones on an iOS device to analyze room attributes, speaker placement and other acoustic factors to improve sound quality. We also developed Automatic TruePlay to deliver the same audio tuning experience, directly using the microphones integrated to our speakers and make this available to iOS and Android users.
•Continuous Improvement. Our software platform and cloud service enables feature enhancements and delivery of new experiences on an ongoing basis. As a result, the Sonos experience improves for customers over time.
Our Partner Ecosystem
We have built a platform that attracts partners to enable our customers to play content from their preferred services. Our platform has attracted a broad range of more than 130 streaming content providers and spans across content, control, and third-party applications:
•Content. We partner with a broad range of content providers, such as streaming music services, internet radio stations, and podcast services, allowing our customers to enjoy their audio content from whichever source they desire.
•Control. We provide our customers with multiple options to control their home audio experiences, including voice control and direct control from within selected streaming music service apps. Our platform is the first to offer consumers the ability to buy a single smart speaker with more than one voice assistant choice. Our voice-enabled speaker products have Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant functionality, and in June 2022, we introduced Sonos Voice Control.
•Third-party partnerships. We partner with third-party developers to build new applications and services on top of the Sonos platform, increasing customer engagement and creating new experiences for our customers, such as architectural in-ceiling, in-wall and outdoor speakers in partnership with Sonance, picture frame, bookshelf and table lamp speakers in partnership with IKEA, and automotive sound in partnership with Audi.
Research and Development
Our research and development team develops new hardware products, software and services, while continually improving and enhancing our existing software and hardware products to address customer demands and emerging trends. Our teams have worked on features and enhancements to the Sonos system including developments to the Sonos app, product setup, Trueplay tuning, the ability to use Alexa or Google voice services, and Sonos Voice Control. Our audio team has developed a series of acoustic technologies which enabled us to create speakers that produce high-fidelity sound. In April 2022, we added a talented group of employees to our research and development team through our acquisition of Mayht, a Netherlands-based company, which invented a new approach to audio transducers. The addition of this team and its strategic technology is helping transform and enhance our product portfolio. Our wireless
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and radio team established world-class wireless performance that enabled multi-room experience, wireless surround sound, and many other applications. Our industrial design and mechanical engineering teams developed a cohesive, unique family of products across multiple categories and use-cases such as home theater, all-in-one, and portable. These products demonstrate a range of proprietary manufacturing and design details, logo application techniques, and assembly architecture. The products and software we develop require significant technical knowledge and expertise to develop at a competitive pace. We believe our research and development capabilities and our intellectual property differentiates us from our competitors. We intend to continue to significantly invest in research and development to bring new products and software to market and expand our platform and capabilities.
Sales and Marketing
We sell our products primarily through over 10,000 third-party physical retail stores and our products are distributed in more than 60 countries. The majority of our sales are transacted through traditional physical retailers, including on their websites. We also sell through online retailers, to custom installers who bundle our products with services that they sell to their customers, and directly through our website sonos.com.
We invest in customer experience and customer relationship management to drive loyalty, word-of-mouth marketing and sustainable, profitable growth. Our marketing investments are focused on driving profitable growth through advertising, public relations and brand promotion activities, including digital platforms, sponsorships, collaborations, brand activations, and channel marketing. We continue to invest in our marketing and brand development efforts, including investing in capital expenditures on product displays to support our channel marketing through our retail partners.
Manufacturing, Logistics and Fulfillment
We outsource the manufacturing of our speakers and components to contract manufacturers, who produce our products based on our design specifications. Our products are manufactured by contract manufacturers in China and Malaysia, and Vietnam. In fiscal 2023, we began the process of exiting certain partnerships with two of our contract manufacturers and we expect to complete these exits with minimal disruption by the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Additionally, we continued to diversify and add to our contract manufacturing partnerships and shifted more of our production into our locations in Malaysia and Vietnam, resulting in savings including tariff avoidance. In accordance with our agreements with our contract manufacturers, they will enter into purchase orders with their upstream suppliers for component inventory necessary to manufacture our products, based on our demand forecasts.
The vast majority of our products are shipped to our third-party warehouses which are then shipped to our distributors, retailers, and directly to our customers. Our third-party warehouses are located in the United States in California and Pennsylvania, as well as internationally in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
We use a small number of logistics providers for substantially all of our product delivery to both distributors and retailers. This approach generally allows us to reduce order fulfillment time, reduce shipping costs, and improve inventory flexibility.
Our Competitive Strengths
The proliferation of streaming services, the rapid expansion of digital audio content types, and the rise in voice assistants are significantly changing audio consumption habits and increasing demand for easy, premium, integrated audio experiences. As a leading sound system for consumers, content partners and developers, Sonos is capitalizing on the large market opportunity created by these dynamics. We believe the following combination of capabilities and features of our business model distinguish us from our competitors and position us well to capitalize on our opportunities:
•Leading sound system. We have developed and refined our sound system over the last 20 years. Our effort has resulted in significant consumer awareness and market share among home audio professionals. For example, a 2023 product study by CE Pro ranked Sonos as the leading brand in the wireless speakers, soundbar, and subwoofer categories. Our 91% share in the wireless speaker category among custom installation industry professionals significantly outpaces our competitors.
•Proprietary Sonos app and software platform. We offer our customers a mobile app that controls the Sonos sound system and the entire listening experience. Customers can stream different audio content to speakers in different rooms or the same audio content synchronized throughout the entire home. Additionally, the Sonos app enables universal search, the ability to search for audio content across streaming services and owned content so that customers can easily find, play, or curate music.
•Platform enables freedom of choice for consumers. Our broad and growing network of partners provides access to voice control, streaming music, internet radio, podcasts, and audiobook content, enabling consumers with freedom of choice in
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content and services. Our platform attracts a broad set of content providers, including leading streaming music services and third-party developers.
•Differentiated consumer experience creates engaged households who often repeat purchases. We deliver a differentiated customer experience to millions of households every day, cultivating a long-term passionate and engaged customer base. This engagement with our products, and our ability to continuously improve and enhance the functionality of our existing products through software updates, drives momentum in our flywheel as customers add products to their Sonos sound systems. We generate significant revenue and profits from existing customers purchasing additional products to expand their Sonos sound systems. In fiscal 2023, existing households represented approximately 44% of new product registrations. We have proven our ability to profitably develop new experiences that drive existing customers to add additional products to their home, while continuing to add new homes. We believe that we have yet to fully realize the lifetime value of our customer base and this aspect of our financial model will continue to contribute to our ability to achieve sustainable, profitable growth over the long term.
•Commitment to innovation drives continuous improvement. We have made significant investments in research and development since our inception and believe that we own the foundational intellectual property of wireless multi-room and other audio technologies. Our patent portfolio continues to grow each year. We were included in the Intellectual Property Owners Association "Top 300 Patent Owners" report for calendar year 2022, which was our sixth consecutive year. As of calendar year 2022, we have obtained a total of approximately 1,320 issued patents in the United States versus approximately 15 in 2011. We obtained 168 US patents in calendar year 2022 alone and are on pace to exceed 200 US patents in calendar year 2023.
Our Growth Strategies
Key elements of our growth strategy include:
•Continued introduction of innovative products and services and expansion into new categories. To address our market opportunity, we have developed a long-term roadmap to deliver innovative products, services and software enhancements, and expand into new categories. We intend to continue to introduce products and services across multiple categories designed for enjoyment in all the places and spaces that our customers listen to audio content, including outside of the home, as well as business and enterprise customers. Executing on our roadmap will position us to acquire new customers, increase sales to existing customers, and improve the customer experience.
•Expansion of direct-to-consumer efforts and building relationships with existing channel partners and prospective customers. We are focused on reaching and converting prospective customers through third-party retail stores, e-commerce retailers, our website sonos.com, and custom installers of home audio systems. We expect that our direct-to-consumer channel will continue to contribute to our growth. We intend to continue to build direct relationships with current and prospective customers through sonos.com and the Sonos app to drive direct sales. In fiscal 2023, we generated 23.8% of total revenue through our direct-to-consumer channel, primarily sonos.com. While we seek to increase sales through our direct-to-consumer sales channel, we expect that our third-party retailers will continue to be an important part of our ecosystem. We will continue to seek retail partners that can deliver differentiated in-store experiences to support customer demand for product demonstrations. Additionally, we intend to expand and strengthen our partnerships with custom installers who are valuable to our customer base and contribute to our new household growth. For example, a 2023 product survey by CE Pro ranked Sonos as the leading brand in the wireless speakers, soundbar, and subwoofer categories. Our 91% share in the wireless speakers category among custom installation industry professionals significantly outpaces our competitors. In fiscal 2023, we generated 20.7% of total revenue through our installer solutions channel.
•Expand partner ecosystem to enhance platform. We intend to deepen our relationships with our current partners and expand our partner ecosystem by providing our customers access to streaming music services, voice assistants, internet radio, podcasts and audiobook content.
•Increase brand awareness in existing geographic markets. We intend to increase our household penetration rates in our existing geographic markets by increasing brand awareness, expanding our product offerings and growing our partner ecosystem.
•Expansion into new geographic markets. Geographic expansion represents a growth opportunity in currently underserved countries. We intend to expand into new countries over time by employing country-specific marketing campaigns and distribution channels.
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Factors Affecting Performance
New Product Introductions. Since 2005, we have released products in multiple audio categories. We intend to introduce new products and services that appeal to a broad set of consumers, as well as bring our differentiated listening platform and experience to all the places and spaces where our customers listen to the breadth of audio content available, including inside and outside their homes, as well as commercial spaces.
Seasonality. Historically, we have typically experienced the highest levels of revenue in the first fiscal quarter of the year coinciding with the holiday shopping season and our promotional activities. Our promotional discounting activity is typically higher in the first fiscal quarter as well, which negatively impacts gross margin during this period. However, our higher sales volume in the holiday shopping season has historically resulted in a higher operating margin in the first fiscal quarter due to positive operating leverage.
Ability to Sell Additional Products to Existing Customers. Our existing customers typically increase the number of Sonos products in their homes. In fiscal 2023, existing households represented approximately 44% of new product registrations. As we execute on our product roadmap to address evolving consumer preferences, we believe we can expand the number of products in our customers' homes. Our ability to sell additional products to existing customers is a key part of our business model, as follow-on purchases indicate high customer engagement and satisfaction, decrease the likelihood of competitive substitution, and result in higher customer lifetime value. We will continue to innovate and invest in product development in order to enhance customer experience and drive sales of additional products to existing customers.
Expansion of Partner Ecosystem. Expanding and maintaining strong relationships with our partners will remain important to our success. Our ability to develop, manufacture, and sell voice-enabled speakers that deliver differentiated consumer experiences will be a critical driver of our future performance, particularly as we compete in a larger market with an expanding number of competitors. We currently compete with, and will continue to compete with, companies that have greater resources than we do, many of which have brought voice-enabled speakers to market. To date, our agreements with these partners have all been on a royalty-free basis. We believe our partner ecosystem improves customer experience, attracting more customers to Sonos, which in turn attracts more partners to the platform, further enhancing customer experience. We believe partners choose to be part of the Sonos platform because it provides access to a large, engaged customer base on a global scale. We look to partner with a wide variety of streaming music services, voice assistants, connected home integrators, content creators, podcast and audiobook providers. We have also partnered with certain companies in the development of our own voice-enabled products, while also bringing to market our own voice assistant focused specifically on the audio experience. Our competitiveness in the voice-enabled speaker market will depend on successful investment in research and development, market acceptance of our products and our ability to maintain and benefit from our technology partnerships.
As competition increases, we believe our ability to give users the freedom to choose across a broad set of streaming services and voice control partners will be an important key differentiating factor.
Channel Strategy. We believe growing our own e-commerce channel will continue to be important to supporting our overall growth and profitability as consumers continue the shift from physical to online sales channels. We are investing in our e-commerce capabilities and in-app experience to drive direct sales. In fiscal 2023 and 2022, sales through our direct-to-consumer channel, primarily through sonos.com, represented 23.8% and 22.5% of our total revenue, respectively.
While we seek to increase sales through our direct-to-consumer sales channel, we expect that our partnerships with third-party retailers and custom installers will continue to be an important part of our ecosystem. We will continue to seek retail partners that can deliver differentiated in-store experiences to support customer demand for product demonstrations. Additionally, we intend to expand and strengthen our partnerships with custom installers who are valuable to our customer base and contribute to our new household growth. In fiscal 2023, sales through our installer solutions channel represented 20.7% of total revenue, and 21.2% in fiscal 2022. Our physical retail distribution relies on third-party retailers and our ability to maintain our diversified manufacturing footprint and base of component suppliers in support of production efficiency and flexibility across our global supply chain.
International Expansion. Our products are sold in more than 60 countries, and in fiscal 2023, 41.3% of our revenue was generated outside the United States. Our international growth will depend on our ability to generate sales from the global population of consumers, develop international distribution channels, and diversify our partner ecosystem to appeal to a more global audience. We are committed to strengthening our brand in global markets and our future success will depend in part on our growth in international markets.
Investing in Product and Software Development. Our investments in product and software development consist primarily of expenses in the personnel who support our research and development efforts and capital expenditures for new tooling and production line equipment to manufacture and test our products. We believe that our financial performance will significantly depend on the effectiveness of our investments to design and introduce innovative new products and services and enhance existing products and
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software. If we fail to innovate and expand our product and software offerings or fail to maintain high standards of quality in our products, our brand, market position and revenue will be adversely affected. Further, if our development efforts are not successful, we will not recover the investments made.
Investing in Sales and Marketing. Our marketing investments are focused on increasing brand awareness through advertising, public relations and brand promotion activities. While we maintain a base level of investment throughout the year, significant increases in spending are highly correlated with the holiday shopping season, new product launches, and software introductions. We also invest in capital expenditures on product displays to support our retail channel partners. Sales and marketing investments are typically incurred in advance of any revenue benefits from these activities.
Competition
We compete against established, audio-focused sellers of speakers and sound systems such as Bose, Samsung (and its subsidiaries Harman International and JBL), Sony, Bang & Olufsen, and Masimo (and its subsidiary Sound United that owns, among others, the Denon, Polk Audio and Bowers and Wilkens brands), and against developers of voice-enabled speakers and other voice-enabled products such as Amazon, Apple, and Google. In some cases, our competitors are also our partners in our product development and resale and distribution channels. Many of our competitors have significant market share, diversified product lines, well-established supply and distribution systems, strong worldwide brand recognition, loyal customer bases and significant financial, marketing, research, development and other resources.
The principal competitive factors in our market include:
•brand awareness and reputation;
•breadth of product offering;
•price;
•sound quality;
•multi-room and wireless capabilities;
•customer support;
•product quality and design;
•ease of setup and use; and
•network of technology and content partners.
We believe we compete favorably with our competitors on the basis of the factors described above.
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is an important aspect of our business, and we seek protection for our intellectual property as appropriate. To establish and protect our proprietary rights, we rely upon a combination of patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark laws, and contractual restrictions such as confidentiality agreements, licenses and intellectual property assignment agreements. We maintain a policy requiring our employees, contractors, consultants and other third parties to enter into confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements to control access to our proprietary information. These laws, procedures and restrictions provide only limited protection, and any of our intellectual property rights may be challenged, invalidated, circumvented, infringed or misappropriated. There is no guarantee that we will prevail on any patent infringement claims against third parties. Furthermore, the laws of certain countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and we therefore may be unable to protect our proprietary technology in certain jurisdictions.
Sonos is a leading innovator that holds a comprehensive portfolio of intellectual property rights, including patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade dress and other forms of intellectual property rights in the U.S. and various other countries. Sonos' patent portfolio, in particular, has been recognized as one of the strongest in consumer electronics. Our patents and patent applications relate to hardware, software, networking, accessories, and services, and include technology for the ability to stream content for playback wirelessly to one or more rooms in the home or business. It also includes technology for enabling a wide range of experiences and audio technologies that are important to the Sonos platform and enjoyed by millions of people every day across the globe. Experiences covered by our patents include simple system setup, seamless integration with other platforms and services, balanced sound, voice interactions and control, as well as experiences unique to home theater to name a few. We regularly file patent applications in the U.S. and throughout the world to protect our innovations and technology that come from areas such as research, development,
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and design. Our patents expire at various times and no single patent or other intellectual property right is solely responsible for protecting Sonos' products and services. Sonos continues to invest in protecting its expanding innovation through ongoing development of its patent portfolio. In addition to its own intellectual property, Sonos also enters into licensing agreements with our third-party partners to provide access to a broad range of technology, services, and content for our customers.
In January 2020, the Company filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") against Alphabet Inc. ("Alphabet") and Google LLC ("Google") and a counterpart lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Google alleging infringement of five Sonos patents. In September 2020, the Company filed another lawsuit against Google alleging infringement of an additional four Sonos patents. In December 2020, the Company filed another lawsuit against Google Germany Gmbh and Google Ireland Ltd. in the regional court of Hamburg, Germany, alleging infringement of a Sonos patent. The ITC case has concluded with a finding of all five Sonos patents infringed by Google and not invalid. The California case has concluded with a jury verdict against Google but the court holding the Sonos patents unenforceable and invalid. Both cases are awaiting appeal. The Company has since withdrawn the German case. Starting in 2020, Google has responded by filing patent infringement lawsuits against the Company in the ITC, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Canada, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, and patent infringement lawsuits against the Company's subsidiary, Sonos Europe B.V., in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. The ITC cases have concluded with a finding of no violation by the Company and are now awaiting appeal. The cases in Canada, Germany, France, and the Netherlands have been decided against Google. In the California case, all but one of Google's patent claims have been dismissed, with no trial date set. See Note 12. Commitments and Contingencies of the notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further details.
While we believe that our active patents and patent applications are an important aspect of our business, we also rely heavily on the innovative skills, technical competence and marketing abilities of our personnel.
Human Capital
Sonos is dedicated to creating the ultimate listening experience for our customers, and our employees are critical to achieving this mission. In order to continue to design innovative experiences and products, and compete and succeed in our highly competitive and rapidly evolving market, it is crucial that we continue to attract and retain experienced employees. As part of these efforts, we strive to offer a competitive compensation and benefits program, foster a community where everyone feels included and empowered to do their best work, and give employees the opportunity to give back to their communities and make a social impact.
As of September 30, 2023, we had 1,867 full-time employees. Of our full-time employees, 1,332 were in the United States and 535 were in our international locations. Except for our employees in France and the Netherlands, none of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Compensation and Benefits Program. Our compensation program is designed to attract and reward talented individuals who possess the skills necessary to support our business objectives, assist in the achievement of our strategic goals and create long-term value for our stockholders. We provide employees with compensation packages that include base salary, annual incentive bonuses, and long-term equity awards ("RSUs") tied to the value of our stock price. We believe that a compensation program with both short-term and long-term awards provides fair and competitive compensation and aligns employee and stockholder interests, including by incentivizing business and individual performance (pay for performance), motivating based on long-term company performance and integrating compensation with our business plans. In addition to cash and equity compensation, we also offer employees benefits such as life and health (medical, dental & vision) insurance, paid time off, paid parental leave, and a 401(k) plan.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. At Sonos, we believe that music and sound is universal and connects us as people, and we strive to build products that move everyone. To do this, we are committed to building an equitable and inclusive environment where diverse teams build more creative solutions, drive better results, innovate and bring their authentic selves to work each day. We monitor the representation of women and racially or ethnically diverse team members at different levels throughout the company and disclose the composition of our team in our annual Listen Better Report, which is our corporate social responsibility report available on the Investor Relations section of our website.
As an organization, we've committed to annual diversity, equity and inclusion goals to increase representation at all levels and foster greater connection and belonging at Sonos. To accomplish these goals, we're implementing initiatives to help us reach these goals, including:
•holding management directly accountable in creating a more diverse and inclusive environment by designating 10% of the annual cash incentive plan for management for diversity, equity and inclusion goals;
•examining our hiring practices to ensure we source the best talent from the widest available pool;
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•intentional listening to our employee resource groups who provide critical insight into the experience of underrepresented groups at Sonos and across our industry;
•frequent review of our policies and practices to ensure an equitable experience for all;
•coupling our hiring goals with a focus on retention, employee engagement, and inclusive leadership;
•implementing mentoring and allyship programs that connect employees to key support systems across Sonos; and
•deepening our organizational acumen around allyship, unconscious bias, and equity.
Community Involvement. We aim to enhance the communities where we live and work, and believe that this commitment helps in our efforts to attract and retain employees. We offer employees the opportunity to give back both through our Sonos Soundwaves program, which partners with leading non-profits, and our Sonos Cares program, which offers employees paid volunteer time each year.
Corporate Information
We incorporated in Delaware in August 2002 as Rincon Audio, Inc. and we changed our name to Sonos, Inc. in May 2004. We completed the initial public offering ("IPO") of our common stock in August 2018 and our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol of "SONO." Our principal executive offices are located at 614 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California 93101, and our telephone number is (805) 965-3001.
Our website address is www.sonos.com. The information on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Investors should not rely on any such information in deciding whether to purchase our common stock.
Sonos, the Sonos logo, Sonos One, Sonos One SL, Sonos Five, Sonos Beam, Play:1, Play:5, Playbase, Playbar, Sonos Arc, Amp, Sub, Sonos Move, Port, Boost, Ray, Sonos Ray, Sonos Roam, Sonos Voice Control, Trueplay, Sub Mini, Sonos Sub Mini, Mayht, Era 100, Era 300, and our other registered or common law trademarks, tradenames or service marks appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are our property. Solely for convenience, our trademarks, tradenames, and service marks referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K appear without the ®, ™ and SM symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights to these trademarks, tradenames and service marks. This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains additional trademarks, tradenames and service marks of other companies that are the property of their respective owners.
Available Information
We make available, free of charge through our website, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"), as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.
The SEC maintains an internet site (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.