Sonos Won't Comment on Report It's Taking First Steps Toward Going Public

Sonos had no comment to questions about a Wall Street Journal report that it filed an S-1 registration statement for confidential SEC review as the prelude to an initial public offering possibly as soon as June. Under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, emerging growth companies (EGCs) may be allowed to confidentially initiate the SEC registration process by submitting a draft registration statement for nonpublic review by SEC staff, according to an IPO playbook linked to on the SEC website. The submission doesn’t need the consent of auditors and doesn’t need to be signed because it doesn’t constitute a filing, said the playbook. An EGC can't begin its IPO road show marketing process until at least 21 days after publicly filing its initial confidential submission and all confidentially submitted amendments, it said. Sonos participated for the first time at the Azione Unlimited spring meeting this week, after being sought “for years” by President Richard Glikes to join the buying group for custom integrators. On what Sonos hopes to get out of joining Azione as a vendor member, a Sonos spokeswoman told us the multiroom wireless music company is committed to building stronger relationships and communication within the AV integration vertical, “and this is just one step in our commitment to the professional residential installer.” The company wants to continue to build strong relationships “and open lines of communications with A/V Integrators and this new partnership is one step along the way,” she said, calling Azione a leading organization in the space. Being a vendor member allows Sonos to “spend more quality time” with Azione dealers, allowing the company to improve relationships and “forge new ones,” she said.