Koss Corporation

Koss Corporation (NASDAQ: KOSS) is an American company that designs and manufactures headphones.

Contents

History

John C Koss founded the J.C. Koss Hospital Television Rental Company in 1953. After a short time Koss was looking for new ideas, and partnered with Martin Lange to eventually develop a stereo headphone. Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, in 1991 Koss Audio & Video Electronics started producing and selling consumer electronics products as a separate company in Hazelwood, Missouri, USA. The Koss family owns more than 75% of the firm.

Having only a high-school education, John C Koss worked with Lange, an engineer, to develop the headphone that launched the company almost by accident, as they came upon the headphone idea as a result of an attempt to market a portable phonograph.[1]

Diversification into related electronics areas in the 1980s ended in disaster for Koss, who filed for bankruptcy protection after a net loss in 1984 of $6 million. Koss emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in 1985.[1]

In 1991 Michael J Koss, son of founder John C Koss, took over as president and chief executive officer.

In December 2009, former vice president of finance Sujata "Sue" Sachdeva was charged in federal court with wire fraud after the firm discovered her alleged embezzlement of $4.5 million, with the company suspecting as much as $20 million had been taken over four years, an amount exceeding the company's earnings during the same period. Allegedly, as much of $2 million of the missing funds were used to purchase clothing that was stored unused. The company plans to restate four years of financials.[2][3]

Products

In addition to selling headphones under their own brand, Koss headphones are also rebranded as Radio Shack headphones under license and sold in Radio Shack stores. They will usually have the same drivers as the Koss phones, and these can usually be spotted by the fact that the minijack connector has the Koss logo on it. Radio Shack sells them as Titanium Diaphragm headphones. Some of their more popular products are the Koss Plug and Koss Spark Plug which are noise isolation earphones. Their ability to be adapted to take the high-end Etymotic ear tip (known as the Koss Hybrid), and the popular Koss Porta Pro has contributed to their success. Their budget-priced headphones (the KSC series in particular) are widely regarded as some of the best low-end headphones on the market.[4] As of 1989, all headphones manufactured in North America by KOSS come with a limited lifetime warranty, which covers normal use by the initial user or purchaser.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Barrier, Michael (1990). "Life after near-death - Koss Corp. near bankruptcy". Nation's Business. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1154/is_n8_v78/ai_9237565. 
  2. ^ Rick Romell (2009-12-24). "Koss embezzlement may exceed $20 million". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. http://www.jsonline.com/business/80085207.html. Retrieved 2009-12-25. 
  3. ^ Kirchen, Rich (January 4, 2010). "Koss fires accounting firm; losses could hit $31M". The Business Journal of Milwaukee. http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2010/01/04/daily18.html. Retrieved January 6, 2010. 
  4. ^ Koss KSC 75 @ HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears
  5. ^ Koss Headphones Limited Lifetime Warranty.

References

  • Bednarek, David I., 'Koss Corp. May Be Suffering from Wall Street's Low Interest,' Milwaukee Journal, September 1, 1991.

External links

Major companies based in Milwaukee