Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
A day after Sonos announced a CEO transition, the company is making more moves. Chief product officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin will also be leaving his position. Some employees have told me that Bouvat-Merlin shares a significant amount of blame for the brand damage that Sonos has endured over the last year after deciding to release an overhauled mobile app well before it was ready for customers. There have been reports that top executives at the company ignored warnings from engineers and app testers that the new software wasn’t up to par ahead of its May rollout. Those alarms didn’t stop it from shipping.
In an email to staff, interim CEO Tom Conrad — who himself has plenty of product experience — said the CPO position is now “redundant” and that Bouvat-Merlin’s job is being eliminated. “I know this is a lot of change to absorb in two days and I want to thank you for being resilient,” Conrad wrote.
“Max’s tenure represents an iconic era for Sonos products, including the award-winning Sonos One, Beam, Move, Ace, Arc, and Arc Ultra, establishing Sonos as the world leader in home theater audio and setting the foundation for our next chapter,” Conrad’s email reads.
Bouvat-Merlin will serve as an adviser to Conrad before fully exiting the company. These major changes within Sonos’ ranks suggest that the company is taking its effort to win back trust and right the wrongs of its previous leadership quite seriously.
Conrad’s full email follows below:
Team,
Earlier this morning, I committed to you to share the truth. In that spirit, I want to share some changes I am making to simplify our leadership structure and flatten our Product organization.
With my stepping in as CEO, the Board, Max, and I have agreed that my background makes the Chief Product Officer role redundant. Therefore, Max’s role is being eliminated and the Product organization will report directly to me. I’ve asked Max to advise me over the next period to ensure a smooth transition and I am grateful that he’s agreed to do that.
Max’s tenure represents an iconic era for Sonos products, including the award-winning Sonos One, Beam, Move, Ace, Arc and Arc Ultra, establishing Sonos as the world leader in home theater audio and setting the foundation for our next chapter. These achievements are a testament to the talent, passion, and creativity that define our Product team, and Max has been a leading part of all of that.
I shared this news openly with the Sonos leaders yesterday with the intention that these leaders would share the update as needed with their teams. Unfortunately this news quickly made its way outside the organization. While this is frustrating for all of us, I will not let the possibility of a leak change our ability to communicate openly with one another. So I’m going to keep telling you the truth.
I know this is a lot of change to absorb in two days and I want to thank you for your resilience, continued commitment to Sonos and support of each other during this time.
Tom