*By Chloe Aiello*
Long a top name for in-home sound, Sonos is expanding into a new frontier ー one that has the potential to give it a foothold in an entirely new market segment.
"Our ambition is to be the world's leading sound experience company and we realize to do that, you have to move outside the home as well, because that's where 50 percent of listening happens," Michael Groeninger, Sonos' vice president of corporate finance, told Cheddar on Friday.
Sonos ($SONO) shares were still soaring Friday following a Thursday evening earnings report that impressed Wall Street. Sonos beat investor expectations on both earnings and revenue in its fall quarter, bolstered by the launch of its new voice-enabled speaker, Sonos Beam soundbar.
"Beam exceeded our forecast," Sonos wrote in a note to investors. "Beam's success drove home theater speaker products revenue up 63 percent in fiscal Q4, and contributed significantly to our Q4 revenue outperformance."
Groeninger said Sonos Beam will be a key product as the consumer electronics company enters its ever-important holiday quarter. Looking to next year, however, the company is especially excited for its products designed for outside the home ー and perhaps outside the company's typical product.
The Santa Barbara-based company has faced rising competition as tech behemoths Amazon, ($AMZN), Google, ($GOOGL), and Apple($AAPL) have entered the connected speaker space. The company has stayed relevant by partnering with some of those same rivals, enabling integrations with their music-streaming services and, more recently, Amazon's Alexa. It's especially important at a time when A.I.-powered voice assistants are on the cutting edge of consumer technology.
"We are partners with all of the big tech companies, but we are also competitors ー and that dynamic works," he said.
Sonos sees outdoor and mobile speakers as a catalyst for more innovation that promises to greatly expand its share of the connected speaker market. Sonos hasn't shared much about what its out-of-home expansion might entail, but Groeninger did tease plans for placing its sound systems outdoors, in commercial businesses and in cars, as well as on-person and and in a portable capacity ー all places "where our customers are listening to audio content," Groeninger said.
"We care deeply about sound. For 16 years, we've cared deeply about sound in the home, and in the future it will be about in the home and beyond," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/sonos-vp-of-corporate-finance-turns-his-attention-to-out-of-home-speaker-market).
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
At the core of the ongoing government shutdown is a fight over the decision to end subsidies that let some 12 million Americans get health coverage.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
