Koss, which has never quite recovered from the $34...

Koss, which has never quite recovered from the $34 million embezzlement scheme that landed its former vice president of finance an 11-year prison sentence four years ago (CED Nov 19/10 p2), has suspended its production operations in Mexico “until sales volumes support enough demand for the products being produced there,” the company said in an 8-K SEC filing Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1qD6djs). Lackluster export sales caused “extremely disappointing” results for the year ended June 30, when the company had a $5.6 million net loss vs. a year-earlier $5.4 million net profit, on sales that plunged 33.3 percent to $23.8 million, the company said. “Increased competition in our industry has played a role in the setback, but we believe the severe reduction in 2014 export sales was also driven by certain economic challenges, struggling economies, and available credit for retailers and distributors.” Koss still has faith in the “viability” of its high-end Striva headphone technology, “but has temporarily suspended its research and development effort in this area until our base business is restored to more profitable levels,” it said. Koss has billed its two Striva models as the world’s first “true” Wi-Fi headphones, but the models were very expensive at $450 and $500. A check of the Koss online store Thursday showed both models were out of stock.