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☆ Sonos lays off 7%, or about 130 employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Patrick Spence, president and chief executive officer of Sonos Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Technology Television interview in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Wireless speaker company Sonos said in a Wednesday filing that it would lay off about 7% of its workforce, or roughly 130 employees. "In the face of continued headwinds we have had to make some hard choices, including eliminating some positions and reevaluating program spend," Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said. Sonos cut its guidance in its most recent earnings report for the period ended April 1, 2023. The company had previously cut head count by 12% in 2020, in response to the rapidly unfolding Covid pandemic.

Persons: Patrick Spence, Sonos Organizations: Sonos Inc, Bloomberg Technology Television, Wireless, Revenue Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S

Sonos last year won a limited import ban on some Google devices from the ITC, which Google has appealed. Google has countered with its own patent lawsuits in California and at the ITC, accusing Sonos of incorporating the tech company's technology into its smart speakers. The jury found Google infringed one of Sonos' two patents at issue in the trial. A Google spokesperson said on Friday the case was a "narrow dispute about some very specific features that are not commonly used," and that the company was considering its next steps. A Sonos spokesperson said the verdict "re-affirms that Google is a serial infringer of our patent portfolio."

Sonos alleges Google infringed two of its patents related to multi-room wireless audio. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the case relates to "some very specific features that are not commonly used," and that Sonos "mischaracterized our partnership and technology." Sonos first sued Google for patent infringement in Los Angeles and at the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2020, accusing the tech giant of copying its technology during their collaboration. Sonos won a limited import ban on some Google devices from the ITC last year, which Google has appealed. Google has countered with its own patent lawsuits in California and at the ITC.

Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement the company appreciated the decision to invalidate one of Sonos' patents and that Sonos "misrepresented our partnership and mischaracterized our technology." Sonos accused Google in the San Francisco case of infringing four patents related to multi-room wireless speaker technology. Alsup found Thursday that a second Sonos patent was also invalid, but rejected Google's request to cancel the remaining two patents before trial. The judge also said Google did not infringe one of the surviving patents willfully, reducing Sonos' potential damages. Alsup also said he would hold a separate bench trial after the jury trial to determine whether Google's redesigned speakers infringe Sonos' patents.

☆ Cramer's lightning round: Chart Industries is not a buy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Chart Industries Inc : "This is not the time to go into a really gigantic company that's involved with making all sorts of the big tankers down there in LNG-ville." Loading chart...ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd : "I don't like the shipping services. I've been staying away from them for ages. I am still staying away from them." Loading chart...Chewy Inc : "I still worry one day that Amazon is going to say, 'you know what, we've had enough of Chewy.'"

☆ Top Marketers Are Turning Their Side Projects Into Legitimate Businesses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Turning side projects into stand-alone businesses or full-time occupations can be difficult or even impossible for chief marketing officers, whose jobs have become increasingly demanding and complex. “I loved the idea of Paris, especially as a place that I might someday pluck up the courage to start the company,” said Ms. Howard. Dashlane was unaware that Ms. Howard was developing a new company until she announced her resignation, she said. Soon after he left the soft-drink giant, Mr. Cottrill received a call from industry veteran Gary Koepke. New ideas, new challengesWorking on side projects has helped marketers develop different skill-sets and, in some cases, explore new careers.

☆ Meet incoming Slack CEO Lidiane Jones, who will take over when co-founder Stewart Butterfield departs in January
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Lidiane Jones is taking over Stewart Butterfield's role as CEO of Slack. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is exiting the company in January, and Salesforce has confirmed that Lidiane Jones will be his successor. "Slack will have a new CEO: Lidiane Jones. This is good: Lidiane is amazing," Butterfield wrote in the post, which was viewed and published in full by Insider. A spokesperson for Salesforce wrote in a statement to Insider that Butterfield was "instrumental" in choosing Jones as his successor.

☆ Sonos CEO sees upbeat holiday season as supply snarls ease
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Eva Mathews | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sonos is seeing strong demand for its $349 entry-level sound bar Ray and the wireless loudspeaker Sub Mini priced at $429, Spence said. Still, the company added only 1.4 million net new households in the period, compared with 1.8 million a year earlier. "China is important in terms of our overall supply chain, but we are also in Malaysia and Vietnam. So, we have also recreated a more resilient supply chain," Spence said. Sonos is also under pressure from a strong dollar, which is expected to shave off $79 million from sales in 2023.

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