Sonos Is Said to File Confidentially for Planned Summer IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Wireless speaker maker Sonos Inc. filed confidentially for an initial public offering, which it plans to hold as soon as this summer, people familiar with the matter said.

The Santa Barbara, California-based company is looking to go public in June or July, targeting a market value of $2.5 billion to $3 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. Sonos is working with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which are expected to lead the offering, the people said.

Sonos declined to comment. Representatives for Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The filing was reported earlier Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal.

The market for internet-connected speakers is booming. Sonos, a pioneer in the industry, is trying to keep pace with the growth of Amazon.com Inc.’s Echo products. Sonos has said it’s working to make its prodcuts compatible with all major voice-assistant services, including Amazon’s Alexa, Apple Inc.’s Siri and Google. In October, the company introduced the Sonos One, which has a microphone allowing owners to summon Alexa.

Sonos also hopes to differentiate itself through better sound quality. It’s a strategy Apple is using with the HomePod speaker, which so far hasn’t lived up to expectations.

--With assistance from Alex Barinka

To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Brustein in New York at jbrustein@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha

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