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Enron



 
 
Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation (formerly Enron Corporation, former NYSE
New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange based in New York City, New York. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by United States dollar market capitalization of its listed companies' Security ....
 ticker symbol ENE) was an American energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
 company based in Houston
Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles ....
, Texas
Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
. Before its bankruptcy
Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring....
 in late 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 (McLean & Elkind, 2003) and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, pulp and paper, and communications companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion in 2000.






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Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation (formerly Enron Corporation, former NYSE
New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange based in New York City, New York. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by United States dollar market capitalization of its listed companies' Security ....
 ticker symbol ENE) was an American energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
 company based in Houston
Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles ....
, Texas
Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
. Before its bankruptcy
Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring....
 in late 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 (McLean & Elkind, 2003) and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, pulp and paper, and communications companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion in 2000. Fortune
Fortune (magazine)

Fortune is a International business magazine published by Time Inc. Fortune|Money Group. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life , Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner....
 named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years. At the end of 2001 it was revealed that its reported financial condition was sustained substantially by institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud
Accounting scandals

Accounting scandals, or corporate accounting scandals are political scandals and corporate abuses which arise with the disclosure of misdeeds by trusted executives of large public corporations....
, known as the "Enron scandal
Enron scandal

The Enron scandal was a financial scandal involving Enron Corporation and its accounting firm Arthur Andersen, that was revealed in late 2001....
". Enron has since become a popular symbol of willful corporate fraud and corruption. The scandal was also considered a landmark case in the field of business fraud and brought into question the accounting practices of many corporations throughout the United States.

Enron filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring....
 protection in the Southern District of New York in late 2001 and selected Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. It is one of the largest and most highly regarded law firms in the world, with approximately 1,300 lawyers and gross annual revenue in excess of $1.7 billion....
 as its bankruptcy counsel. It emerged from bankruptcy in November 2004 after one of the biggest and most complex bankruptcy cases in U.S. history. On September 7, 2006, Enron sold Prisma Energy International Inc.
Prisma Energy International

Prisma Energy International Inc., was a former subsidiary of Enron Corporation, formed in 2003 to own and manage the majority of Enron's overseas assets, formerly known as "Enron International"....
, its last remaining business, to Ashmore Energy International Ltd. Following the scandal, lawsuits against Enron's directors were notable because the directors settled the suits by paying very significant sums of money personally. The scandal also caused the dissolution of the Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen

Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the Big Four auditors among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations....
 accounting firm, affecting the wider business world.

In early 2007, Enron changed its name to Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation, to reflect its status as a (largely) asset-less shell corporation. Its current goal is to liquidate all remaining assets of the company. For most of 2007, Enron continued to operate under the name Enron Corp. by filing a Doing Business As
Doing business as

The phrase "doing business as" is a legal writing, meaning that the name of the business or operation does not include the legal name of its sole proprietorship, the names of all partnership, or the official registered name of the limited partnership or corporation that owns it....
, or "dba" certificate in Harris County, Texas
Harris County, Texas

Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Greater Houston metropolitan area. As of 2000 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 3,400,578 , making it the most populous county in Texas and the List of the most populous counties in the United States in the United States....
.

Early history

Enron traces its roots to the Northern Natural Gas Company, which was formed in 1932 in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River....
. It was reorganized in 1979 as the leading subsidiary of a holding company
Holding company

A holding company is a company that owns other companies' outstanding stock stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself, rather its only purpose is owning shares of other companies....
, InterNorth
InterNorth

InterNorth Inc. was a very large energy company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States, specializing in natural gas pipelines but also a force in the plastics industry, coal and petroleum exploration and production....
. In 1985, it bought the smaller Houston Natural Gas
Houston Natural Gas

Houston Natural Gas Company was a gas utility headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company was acquired by InterNorth Inc. in 1985, with HNG executives taking top positions at InterNorth....
 and changed its name to Enron in the process.

The merged company initially named itself "HNG/InterNorth Inc.", even though InterNorth was the nominal survivor. It built a large headquarters complex in Omaha. However, the departure of ex-InterNorth CEO Samuel Segnar six months after the merger allowed former HNG CEO Kenneth Lay
Kenneth Lay

Kenneth Lee "Ken" Lay was an United States businessman, best known for his role in the widely-reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron....
 to become CEO of the newly merged company. Lay soon moved Enron's headquarters to Houston
Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles ....
 and began to thoroughly re-brand the business. Lay originally favored the name "Enteron" (possibly spelled in camelcase
CamelCase

CamelCase is the practice of writing compound noun and adjectives or phrases in which the words are joined without Whitespace s and are capitalization within the compound?as in Patti LaBelle, Visual Basic, or iPod....
 as "EnterOn"); but when it was pointed out that the term approximated a Greek word referring to the intestine
Intestine

In anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the Gastrointestinal tract extending from the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine....
, it was quickly shortened to "Enron." The final name was decided upon only after business cards, stationery, and other items had been printed reading Enteron, reflecting the confused state of affairs in the company at the time. Enron's "crooked E" logo was designed in the mid-1990s by the late American graphic designer
Graphic designer

A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design....
 Paul Rand
Paul Rand

Paul Rand , born Peretz Rosenbaum, was an American graphic designer, best known for his corporate Logotype designs. Rand was educated at the Pratt Institute , and the Art Students League of New York ....
.

Enron was originally involved in transmitting and distributing electricity and gas throughout the United States. The company developed, built, and operated power plants and pipelines
Pipeline transport

Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a Pipe . Most commonly, liquid and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air have also been used....
 while dealing with rules of law and other infrastructures worldwide. Enron owned a large network of natural gas pipelines which stretched ocean to ocean and border to border including Northern Natural Gas, Florida Gas Transmission, Transwestern Pipeline company and a partnership in Northern Border Pipeline from Canada. These were the cash cows that made all of the other Enron companies, ventures and investments possible. They were the only part of Enron that made significant profits. In 1998, Enron moved into the water sector, creating the Azurix
Azurix

Azurix Corp. was the water services division of Enron Corporation, formed by purchasing Wessex Water in 1998. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States, Azurix was part-floated on the NYSE stock exchange in June 1999, with Enron retaining 35% ownership....
 Corporation, which it part-floated on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange based in New York City, New York. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by United States dollar market capitalization of its listed companies' Security ....
 in June 1999. Azurix failed to break into the water utility market, and one of its major concessions, in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the Capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southern shore of the R?o de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent....
, was a large-scale money-loser.

Enron grew wealthy, it claimed, via its pioneering, due largely to marketing
Marketing

Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large....
 and promoting
Promotion (marketing)

Promotion involves disseminating information about a product , product line, brand, or company. It is one of the four key aspects of the marketing mix....
 power. Enron was named "America's Most Innovative Company" by Fortune magazine for six consecutive years, from 1996 to 2001. It was on the Fortunes "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" list in 2000, and had offices that were, in hindsight, stunning in their opulence. Enron was hailed by many, including labor and the workforce, as an overall great company, praised for its large long-term pensions, benefits for its workers and extremely effective management
Vitality curve

A vitality curve is a leadership construct, assigning credit with certain proportions of the production to proportions of a producing population....
 until its exposure in corporate fraud. The first analyst to publicly disclose Enron's financial flaws was Daniel Scotto
Daniel Scotto

Daniel "Dan" Scotto is an United States financial analyst. In August 2001, as an analyst with BNP Paribas, Scotto downgraded Enron securities from "Buy" to "Neutral"....
 who in August 2001 issued a report entitled "All Stressed up and no place to go" which encouraged investors to sell Enron stocks and bonds at any and all costs.

As was later discovered, many of Enron's recorded assets and profits were inflated, or even wholly fraudulent and nonexistent. Debts and losses were put into entities formed "offshore" that were not included in the firm's financial statements
Financial statements

Financial statements are formal records of a business' financial activities.In British English, including United Kingdom company law, financial statements are often referred to as accounts, although the term financial statements is also used, particularly by accountants....
, and other sophisticated and arcane financial transactions between Enron and related companies were used to take unprofitable entities off the company's books.

Its most valuable asset and the largest source of honest income, the 1930s-era Northern Natural Gas, was eventually purchased back by a group of Omaha investors, who moved its headquarters back to Omaha, and is now a unit of Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett

Warren Edward Buffett is an American investor, businessman, and philanthropist. He is one of the world's most successful investors and the largest shareholder and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway....
's Mid-American Energy Holdings Corp. NNG was put up as collateral for a $2.5 billion capital infusion by Dynegy Corporation
Dynegy

Dynegy Inc. , based in Houston, Texas, United States, is a large owner and operator of power plants and a player in the natural gas liquids and coal business....
 when Dynegy was planning to buy Enron. When Dynegy looked closely at Enron's books, they backed out of the deal and fired their CEO, Chuck Watson. The new chairman and interim CEO, the late Daniel Dienstbier, had been president of NNG and an Enron executive at one time and an acquaintance of Warren Buffett. NNG continues to be profitable today.

Products

Enron traded in more than 30 different products, including the following:

  • Products traded on EnronOnline
    • Petrochemicals
    • Plastic
      Plastic

      Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic chemistry solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products....
      s
    • Power
      Electric power

      Electric power is defined as the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt .When electric current flows in a circuit, it can transfer energy to do mechanical work or work ....
    • Pulp
      Wood pulp

      Pulp is a dry fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating fibers from wood or fiber crops.Pulp can be either fluffy or formed into thick sheets....
       and paper
    • Steel
      Steel

      Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight , depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten....
    • Weather Risk Management


  • Oil
    Oil

    An oil is a chemical substance that is in a viscosity liquid state at room temperature or slightly warmer, and is both hydrophobic and lipophilic ....
     & LNG Transportation
  • Broadband
    Broadband

    The term broadband can have different meanings in different contexts. The term's meaning has undergone substantial shifts....
  • Principal Investments
  • Risk Management for Commodities
  • Shipping
    Shipping

    Shipping is physical process of transporting product and cargo. Virtually every product ever made, bought, or sold has been affected by shipping....
     / Freight
  • Streaming Media
  • Water
    Water

    Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
     & Wastewater
    Wastewater

    Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations....


It was also an extensive futures trader
Futures contract

In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to buy or sell a standardized quantity of a specified commodity of standardized quality at a certain date in the future, at a price determined by the instantaneous equilibrium between the forces of supply and demand among competing buy and sell orders...
, including sugar, coffee, grains, hog, and other meat futures. At the time of its bankruptcy filing in December 2001, Enron was structured into seven distinct business units.

Online marketplace services

  • EnronOnline (commodity trading platform)
  • ClickPaper (transaction platform for pulp, paper, and wood products)
  • EnronCredit (the first global online credit department to provide live credit prices and enable business-to-business customers to hedge credit exposure instantly via the Internet.)
  • ePowerOnline (customer interface for Enron Broadband Services)
  • Enron Direct (sales of fixed-price contracts for gas and electricity; Europe only)
  • EnergyDesk (energy-related derivatives trading; Europe only)
  • NewPowerCompany (online energy trading, joint venture with IBM
    IBM

    International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
     and AOL
    AOL

    AOL LLC is an United States global Internet services and media company operated by Time Warner and was headquartered in Loudoun County, Virginia until late April 2008 when it was moved to new offices at 770 Broadway in New York City....
    )
  • Enron Weather (weather derivatives)
  • DealBench (online business services)
  • Water2Water (water storage, supply, and quality credits trading)
  • HotTap (customer interface for Enron's U.S. gas pipeline businesses)
  • EnronStrommarkt (business to business pricing and information platform; Germany only)


Broadband services

  • Enron Intelligent Network (broadband content delivery)
  • Enron Media Services (risk management services for media content companies)
  • Customizable Bandwidth Solutions (bandwidth and fiber products trading)
  • Streaming Media Applications (live or on-demand Internet broadcasting applications)


Energy and commodities services

  • Enron Power (electricity wholesaling)
  • Enron Natural Gas (natural gas wholesaling)
  • Enron Pulp and Paper, Packaging, and Lumber (risk management derivatives for forest products industry)
  • Enron Coal and Emissions (coal wholesaling and CO2 offsets trading)
  • Enron Plastics and Petrochemicals (price risk management for polymers, olefins, methanol, aromatics, and natural gas liquids)
  • Enron Weather Risk Management (Weather Derivatives
    Weather derivatives

    Weather derivatives are financial instruments that can be used by organizations or individuals as part of a risk management strategy to reduce risk associated with adverse or unexpected weather conditions....
    )
  • Enron Steel (financial swap contracts and spot pricing for the steel industry)
  • Enron Crude Oil and Oil Products (petroleum hedging)
  • Enron Wind Power Services
    Enron Wind

    Enron Wind Systems, part of the Enron group, were manufacturers of wind turbines. The group was formed after the acquisition in January 1997 of Zond Corporation of California, the largest US developer of wind-powered electricity at the time....
     (wind turbine manufacturing and wind farm operation)
  • MG Plc. (U.K. metals merchant)


Capital and risk management services


Commercial and industrial outsourcing services
  • Commodity Management
  • Energy Asset Management
  • Energy Information Management
  • Facility Management
  • Capital Management
  • Azurix
    Azurix

    Azurix Corp. was the water services division of Enron Corporation, formed by purchasing Wessex Water in 1998. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States, Azurix was part-floated on the NYSE stock exchange in June 1999, with Enron retaining 35% ownership....
     Inc. (water utilities and infrastructure)


Project development and management services
  • Energy Infrastructure Development (developing, financing, and operation of power plants and related projects)
  • Enron Global Exploration & Production Inc. (oil and natural gas field services)
  • Elektro Eletricidade e Servicos SA (Brazilian electric utility)


Energy transportation and upstream services
  • Natural Gas Transportation
  • Northern Border Pipeline
    Northern Border Pipeline

    Northern Border Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline which brings gas from Canada through Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa into the Chicago area....
  • Houston Pipeline
  • Transwestern Pipeline
    Transwestern Pipeline

    Transwestern Pipeline Company, LLC owns and operates a natural gas transmission system that provides access to natural gas supplies in the San Juan and Rocky Mountain Basins in northwest New Mexico, southwest Colorado, the Texas-Oklahoma Panhandle, and the Permian Basin region of West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico....
  • Florida Gas Transmission
    Florida Gas Transmission

    Florida Gas Transmission is a natural gas pipeline which brings gas from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama into Florida. It is owned by 50% by Southern Natural Gas and 50% by CrossCountry Energy....
  • Northern Natural Gas Company
  • Natural Gas Storage
  • Compression Services
  • Gas Processing and Treatment
  • Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Services
  • EOTT Energy Inc. (oil transportation)


Enron manufactured gas valves, circuit breakers, thermostats, and electrical equipment in Venezuela through INSELA SA, a 50-50 joint venture with General Electric
General Electric

The General Electric Company, or GE is a multinational corporation United States technology and Service s conglomerate incorporated in the State of New York....
. Enron owned three paper and pulp products companies: Garden State Paper, a newsprint mill; as well as Papiers Stadacona and St. Aurelie Timberlands. Enron held a controlling stake in the Louisiana-based petroleum exploration and production company Mariner Energy.

EnronOnline

In November 1999, Enron launched EnronOnline. Conceptualized by the company's Global Finance department under John Siepierski, it was the first web-based transaction system that allowed buyers and sellers to buy, sell, and trade commodity products globally. It allowed users to do business only with Enron. Due to the huge cash needs of Enron Online, and the firm wasting money in other areas such as broadband, Azurix
Azurix

Azurix Corp. was the water services division of Enron Corporation, formed by purchasing Wessex Water in 1998. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States, Azurix was part-floated on the NYSE stock exchange in June 1999, with Enron retaining 35% ownership....
, Enron Energy Services
Enron Energy Services

Enron Energy Services was a business unit of Enron Corporation, whose purpose was to provide gas, electricity, and Energy management system directly to businesses and homes....
, and shutting down the original pipeline service which generated cash flow, Enron virtually drained itself of cash. The Enron Global Finance department had to keep working up more creative financing
Creative financing

Creative financing is a term used widely amongst real estate investor to refer to non-traditional means of real estate financing, or financing techniques not commonly used....
 moves to keep the company running.

EnronOnline went live on November 29, 1999. The site allowed energy users to do business in a previously unseen way. Until this point a trade
Trade

Tradeis the willing exchange of goods, Service , or both. Trade is also called commerce. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter , the direct exchange of goods and services....
r who wanted to buy an energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
 contract
Contract

A contract is an exchange of promises between two or more parties to do, or refrain from doing, an act which is enforceable in a court of law. It is a binding legal agreement....
 talked with another energy trader who wanted to sell a contract, and from there, terms were agreed. EnronOnline allowed market
Market

A market is any one of a variety of different systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby persons trade, and goods and services are exchanged, forming part of the economy....
 participants to see prices on their screen just like a stock ticker
Stock Ticker

Stock Ticker is a now out of print board game that was popular upon its release and is still played today. It was released by Copp-Clark Publishing, a venerable Canada publisher....
, and could do business far more simply.

The main commodities offered on EnronOnline were natural gas
Natural gas

Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
 and electricity
Electricity

Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena such as lightning and static electricity, but in addition, less familiar concepts such as the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction....
, although there were 500 other products including credit derivative
Credit derivative

In finance, a credit derivative is a derivative whose value derives from the credit risk on an underlying bond, loan or other financial asset. In this way, the credit risk is on an entity other than the counterparties to the transaction itself....
s, bankruptcy swaps, pulp, gas, plastic
Plastic

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic chemistry solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products....
s, paper
Paper

Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
, steel
Steel

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight , depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten....
, metal
Metal

In chemistry, a metal is a chemical element whose atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions , and form metallic bonds between other metal atoms and ionic bonds between nonmetal atoms....
s, freight, and TV commercial time.

EnronOnline was seen as an impressive tool, but because Enron was either buying, selling, or trading in every transaction, the costs increased over time, and the systems were involved in the financial misreporting and other questionable financial behavior that eventually led to Enron's demise. However, EnronOnline spawned several other e-commerce websites including . DealBench is an acquisition and divestiture tool still operating today. As of 2007, Enron still operates the DealBench code under the name EnronAssets. Other Enron developed technologies include Commodity Logic, ClickPaper and EnronCredit.

EnronOnline closed down for online trading on the morning of November 28, 2001, with Enron filing for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring....
 four days later.

Principal assets

At the time of bankruptcy, Enron owned all of or interests in the following major assets:

Power plants

Enron owned or operated 38 electric power plants worldwide:
  • Teesside
    Teesside power station

    Teesside Power Station is a Combined cycle Fossil fuel power plant, located close to the Wilton chemical complex in Middlesbrough in the North East England....
     (United Kingdom)—at the time of commission in 1992, at 1750 MW, was the largest Natural Gas Co-Gen plant in the world. Its on-time and under-budget completion put Enron Power on the map as an international developer, owner and operator.
  • Bahia Las Minas (Panama)- largest thermal power plant in Central America, 355 MW
  • Puerto Quetzal Power Project (Guatemala)—110 MW
  • PQP LLC (Guatemala)—holding company for 124 MW Power Barge
    Power Barge

    A power barge is a power plant installed on a deck barge.The type of power plants include; single or multiple gas turbines; reciprocating diesel and gas engines; boilers or nuclear reactors....
     named "Esperanza"
  • Empresa Energetica Corinto (Nicaragua)—holding company for "Margarita II" 70.5 MW power barge, Enron held 35% share
  • EcoElectrica (Puerto Rico, USA)—507 MW natural gas cogeneration plant, with adjacent LNG import terminal- supplied 20% of island's electricity
  • Puerto Plata Power Project (Dominican Republic)—185 MW power barge named "Puerto Plata"
  • Modesto Maranzana Power Plant (Argentina)—70 MW
  • Cuiaba Integrated Project (Brazil)—480 MW combined cycle power plant
  • Nowa Sarzyna Power Plant (Poland)—116 MW, first privately developed post-Communist electricity project in Poland
  • Sarlux Power Project (Italy)—551 MW combined cycle power plant, converted residue from Italy's largest oil refinery into synthetic gas for fuel
  • Trakya Power Project (Turkey)—478 MW
  • Chengdu Cogen Project (China)—284 MW, joint venture with Sichuan Electric Company
  • Northern Marianas Power Project (Guam, USA)—80 MW slow speed diesel oil plant
  • Batangas Power Project (Philippines)—110 MW
  • Subic Bay Power Project (Philippines)—116 MW
  • Dabhol Power Project
    Dabhol Power Company

    The Dabhol Power Company was a company based in India, formed to manage and operate the Dabhol Power Plant. The Dabhol plant was built through the combined effort of Enron, General Electric, and Bechtel....
     (India)—2,184 MW combined cycle plant, generally considered one of Enron's most controversial and least successful projects
  • Storm Lake Wind Generation Project (Iowa, USA)—193 MW wind farm
  • Lake Benton II Wind Generation Facility (Minnesota, USA)—104 MW wind farm
  • Lake Benton I Wind Generation Facility (Minnesota, USA)—107 MW wind farm
  • Cabazon Wind Generation Facility (California, USA)—40 MW wind farm
  • Green Power I Wind Generation Facility (California, USA)—16.5 MW wind farm
  • Indian Mesa I Wind Generation Facility (Texas, USA)—25.5 MW wind farm
  • Clear Sky Wind Power Generation Facility (Texas, USA)—135 MW wind farm
  • Mill Run Wind Wind Power Generation Facility (Pennsylvania, USA)—15 MW wind farm
  • Trent Mesa Wind Generation Facility (Texas, USA)—150 MW wind farm
  • Montfort Wind Generation Facility (Wisconsin, USA)—30 MW wind farm
  • 8 hydroelectric plants in Oregon with a combined capacity of 509 MW, owned through Portland General Electric
    Portland General Electric

    Portland General Electric is an electrical utility, formerly owned by the Houston, Texas-based Enron , that distributes electricity to customers in parts of Portland, Oregon, as well as parts of Multnomah County, Oregon, Clackamas County, Oregon, Marion County, Oregon, Yamhill County, Oregon, Washington County, Oregon, and Polk County, Oreg...
  • 4 additional thermal plants in Oregon and Montana with a combined capacity of 1,464 MW, owned through Portland General Electric
    Portland General Electric

    Portland General Electric is an electrical utility, formerly owned by the Houston, Texas-based Enron , that distributes electricity to customers in parts of Portland, Oregon, as well as parts of Multnomah County, Oregon, Clackamas County, Oregon, Marion County, Oregon, Yamhill County, Oregon, Washington County, Oregon, and Polk County, Oreg...


Pipelines

  • Centragas (Colombia)—357 miles, natural gas
  • Promigas (Colombia)
  • Transportadora de Gas del Sur (Argentina)—largest pipeline system in South America, 5,005 km
  • CEG (Brazil)—1,368 miles, natural gas
  • CEGRio (Brazil)
  • Transredes (Bolivia)—3,000 km natural gas pipeline and 2,500 km oil & liquids pipeline
  • Bolivia-to-Brazil Pipeline (Bolivia/Brazil)—3,000 km, natural gas
  • Northern Natural Gas (Upper Midwestern USA)—16,500 miles, included share in Trailblazer Pipeline
  • Transwestern Pipeline (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado)—2,554 miles
  • Florida Gas Transmission (Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida)—4,800 miles
  • Northern Border Pipeline (Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana )—1,249 miles


Electric utilities/distributors

  • Portland General Electric Company (USA)—serving 775,000 customers in Oregon
  • Elektro Electricidade e Servicos S.A. (Brazil)—1.5 million customers
  • Compania Anonima Luz y Fuerza Electricas de Puerto Cabello (Venezuela)—50,000 customers


Natural gas-related businesses

  • ProCaribe (Puerto Rico, USA)—LPG storage terminal, only fully refrigerated LPG storage facility in Caribbean
  • San Juan Gas Company (Puerto Rico, USA)—gas distribution, 400 industrial/commercial customers
  • Industrial Gases Ltd. (Jamaica)—8 filling plants, industrial gas manufacturing & LPG distribution, held 100% monopoly on Jamaican industrial gas business and 40% of LPG business
  • Gaspart (Brazil)—consortium of 7 gas distribution companies
  • Vengas (Venezuela)—LPG transportation and distribution
  • SK-Enron Company Ltd. (South Korea)—joint venture with SK Corporation; included 8 city gas utilities, an LPG distributor, and a steam and electricity cogeneration facility


Pulp and paper

  • Garden State Paper Company Inc. (New Jersey, USA)—paperboard and newsprint recycling mill
  • Papiers Stadacona Ltee. (Quebec, Canada)—wood pulp & paper mill
  • St. Aurelie Timberlands Company Ltd. (Quebec, and New Brunswick, Canada & Maine, USA)—timber company


Other

  • Mariner Energy Inc. (Houston, Texas, USA)—oil & gas exploration, development, and production with operations in the Gulf of Mexico
  • Interruptores Especializados Lara (Venezuela)—manufacturer of valves, thermostats, and electrical breakers for appliances
  • Enron Wind—manufacturer of wind power turbines and related systems, with factories in USA, Spain, Portugal, and Germany


Accounting scandal of 2001

After a series of revelations involving irregular accounting procedures bordering on fraud perpetrated throughout the 1990s involving Enron and its accounting firm Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen

Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the Big Four auditors among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations....
, Enron stood on the verge of undergoing the largest bankruptcy in history by mid-November 2001 (the largest Chapter 11 Bankruptcy until that of Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services corporation that, until declaring bankruptcy in 2008, did business in investment banking, Stock and Bond sales, market research and stock trading, investment management, private equity, and private banking....
 on September 15 2008). A white knight
White knight (business)

In business, a white knight may be a corporation, a private company, or a person that intends to help another firm. There are many types of white knights....
 rescue attempt by a similar, smaller energy company, Dynegy
Dynegy

Dynegy Inc. , based in Houston, Texas, United States, is a large owner and operator of power plants and a player in the natural gas liquids and coal business....
, was not viable.

As the scandal was revealed, Enron shares dropped from over US$90.00 to just pennies. Enron had been considered a blue chip stock, so this was an unprecedented and disastrous event in the financial world. Enron's plunge occurred after it was revealed that much of its profits and revenue were the result of deals with special purpose entities
Special purpose entity

A special purpose entity is a legal entity created to fulfill narrow, specific or temporary objectives. SPE's are typically used by companies to isolate the firm from financial risk....
 (limited partnership
Limited partnership

A limited partnership is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership, except that in addition to one or more general partnerswhat?? , there are one or more limited partners ....
s which it controlled). The result was that many of Enron's debts and the losses that it suffered were not reported in its financial statements
Financial statements

Financial statements are formal records of a business' financial activities.In British English, including United Kingdom company law, financial statements are often referred to as accounts, although the term financial statements is also used, particularly by accountants....
.

Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001. In addition, the scandal caused the dissolution of Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen

Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the Big Four auditors among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations....
, which at the time was one of the world's top accounting firms. The firm was found guilty of obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice

The crime of obstruction of justice includes crimes committed by judges, prosecutors, Attorney General, and elected officials in general. It is misfeasance, malfeasance or nonfeasance in the conduct of the office....
 in 2002 for destroying documents related to the Enron audit and was forced to stop auditing public companies. Although the conviction was thrown out in 2005 by the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
, the damage to the Andersen name has prevented it from returning as a viable business.

Enron also withdrew a naming rights deal with the Houston Astros
Houston Astros

The Houston Astros are a professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros are a member of the National League Central of Major League Baseball's National League....
 Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of play in American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between them since 1903 ....
 club to have its name associated with their new stadium, which was formerly known as Enron Field (it is now Minute Maid Park
Minute Maid Park

Minute Maid Park is a baseball park in Houston, Texas, United States that opened in 2000 to house the Houston Astros.The ballpark was Houston's first retractable-roofed stadium, protecting fans and athletes from Houston's notoriously humid weather as its predecessor, the Reliant Astrodome, did, but allowing fans to also enjoy outdoor baseb...
.)

Accounting practices

Enron had created offshore entities, units which may be used for planning and avoidance of taxes, raising the profitability of a business. This provided ownership and management with full freedom of currency movement and the anonymity that allowed the company to hide losses. These entities made Enron look more profitable than it actually was, and created a dangerous spiral in which each quarter, corporate officers would have to perform more and more contorted financial deception to create the illusion of billions in profits while the company was actually losing money. This practice drove up their stock price to new levels, at which point the executives began to work on insider information and trade millions of dollars worth of Enron stock. The executives and insiders at Enron knew about the offshore accounts that were hiding of losses for the company; however the investors knew nothing of this. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow led the team which created the off-books companies, and manipulated the deals to provide himself, his family, and his friends with hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed revenue, at the expense of the corporation for which he worked and its stockholders.

In 1999, Enron launched EnronOnline, an Internet-based trading operation, which was used by virtually every energy company in the U.S. President and chief operating officer Jeffrey Skilling
Jeffrey Skilling

Jeffrey Keith "Jeff" Skilling is the former CEO of Enron in 2001. He was convicted in 2006 of multiple federal felony charges relating to Enron's financial collapse, and is currently serving a 24-year, 4-month prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood in Lakewood, Colorado, Colorado....
 began advocating a novel idea: the company didn't really need any "assets." By pushing the company's aggressive investment strategy, he helped make Enron the biggest wholesaler of gas and electricity, with $27 billion traded in a quarter. The firm's figures, however, had to be accepted at face value. Under Skilling, Enron adopted mark to market
Mark to market

Mark-to-market is an accountancy methodology of assigning a Present value to a position held in a financial instruments based on the current market price for the instrument or similar instruments....
 accounting, in which anticipated future profits from any deal were tabulated as if real today. Thus, Enron could record gains from what over time might turn out losses, as the company's fiscal health became secondary to manipulating its stock price on Wall Street
Wall Street

Wall Street is a street in lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District, Manhattan....
 during the Tech boom. But when a company's success is measured by agreeable financial statements emerging from a black box
Black box

Black box may mean:...
, a term Skilling himself admitted, actual balance sheets prove inconvenient. Indeed, Enron's unscrupulous actions were often gambles to keep the deception going and so push up the stock price, which was posted daily in the company elevator. An advancing number meant a continued infusion of investor capital on which debt-ridden Enron in large part subsisted. Its fall would collapse the house of cards
House of Cards

House of Cards is a political thriller novel written by Michael Dobbs, a former Chief of Staff at Conservative Party headquarters, which was set at the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom....
. Under pressure to maintain the illusion, Skilling verbally attacked Wall Street Analyst Richard Grubman, who questioned Enron's unusual accounting practice during a recorded conference call. When Grubman complained that Enron was the only company that could not release a balance sheet along with its earnings statements, Skilling replied "Well, thank you very much, we appreciate that . . . asshole." Though the comment was met with dismay and astonishment by press and public, it became an inside joke among many Enron employees, mocking Grubman for his perceived meddling rather than Skilling's lack of tact. When asked during his trial, Skilling wholeheartedly admitted that industrial dominance and abuse was a global problem: "Oh yes, yes sure, it is."

Peak and decline of stock price

In August 2000, Enron's stock price hit its highest value of $90. At this point Enron executives, who possessed the inside information on the hidden losses, began to sell their stock. At the same time, the general public and Enron's investors were told to buy the stock. Executives told the investors that the stock would continue to climb until it reached possibly the $130 to $140 range, while secretly unloading their shares.

As executives sold their shares, the price began to drop. Investors were told to continue buying stock or hold steady if they already owned Enron because the stock price would rebound in the near future. Kenneth Lay's strategy for responding to Enron's continuing problems was in his demeanor. As he did many times, Lay would issue a statement or make an appearance to calm investors and assure them that Enron was headed in the right direction.

By August 15, 2001, Enron's stock price had fallen to $42. Many of the investors still trusted Lay and believed that Enron would rule the market. They continued to buy or hold their stock and lost more money every day. As October closed, the stock had fallen to $15. Many saw this as a great opportunity to buy Enron stock because of what Lay had been telling them in the media. Their trust and optimism proved to be greatly misplaced.

Lay has been accused of selling over $70 million worth of stock at this time, which he used to repay cash advances on lines of credit. He sold another $20 million worth of stock in the open market. Also, Lay's wife, Linda, has been accused of selling 500,000 shares of Enron stock totaling $1.2 million on November 28, 2001. The money earned from this sale did not go to the family but rather to charitable organizations, which had already received pledges of contributions from the foundation. Records show that Mrs. Lay placed the sale order sometime between 10:00 and 10:20 AM. News of Enron's problems, including the millions of dollars in losses they had been hiding went public about 10:30 that morning, and the stock price soon fell to below one dollar. Former Enron executive Paula Rieker has been charged with criminal insider trading. Rieker obtained 18,380 Enron shares for $15.51 a share. She sold that stock for $49.77 a share in July 2001, a week before the public was told what she already knew about the $102 million loss.

Post-bankruptcy

Enron initially planned to retain its three domestic pipeline companies as well as most of its overseas assets. However, before emerging from bankruptcy, Enron spun off its domestic pipeline companies as CrossCountry Energy.

Enron sold its last business, Prisma Energy, in 2006, leaving it as an asset-less shell. In early 2007, it changed its name to Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation. Its goal is to pay off the old Enron's remaining creditors and wind up Enron's affairs.

Shortly after emerging from bankruptcy in November 2004, Enron's new board of directors sued 11 financial institutions for helping Lay, Fastow, Skilling and others hide Enron's true financial condition. The proceedings were dubbed the "megaclaims litigation." Among the defendants were Royal Bank of Scotland
Royal Bank of Scotland

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a majority part-nationalised British people banking and insurance holding company in which HM Treasury holds an 74% controlling shareholding, through the UK Financial Investments Limited....
, Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft is an international Universal bank with a broad private clients franchise, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany....
 and Citigroup
Citigroup

Citigroup Inc., doing business as Citi, is a major United States financial services company based in New York City. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate Travelers Group on April 7, 1998....
. , Enron has settled with all of the institutions, ending with Citigroup. Enron was able to obtain nearly $20 million dollars to distribute to its creditors as a result of the megaclaims litigation.

California's deregulation and subsequent energy crisis

In October 2000, Daniel Scotto
Daniel Scotto

Daniel "Dan" Scotto is an United States financial analyst. In August 2001, as an analyst with BNP Paribas, Scotto downgraded Enron securities from "Buy" to "Neutral"....
, the top ranked utility analyst on Wall Street
Wall Street

Wall Street is a street in lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District, Manhattan....
, suspended his ratings on all energy companies conducting business in California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 due to the possibility that the companies would not receive full and adequate compensation for the deferred energy accounts used as the cornerstone for the California Deregulation Plan enacted in the late 1990s. Five months later, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) was forced into bankruptcy. Senator Phil Gramm
Phil Gramm

William Philip Gramm is a US politician, who has served as a Democratic Party United States House of Representatives , a Republican Party Congressman and a Republican United States Senate from Texas ....
, the second largest recipient of campaign
Political campaign

A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracy, political campaigns often refer to election campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendum are decided....
 contributions from Enron, succeeded in legislating California's energy commodity trading deregulation. Despite warnings from prominent consumer groups which stated that this law would give energy traders too much influence over energy commodity prices, the legislation was passed in December 2000.

As Public Citizen
Public Citizen

Public Citizen is a Washington, D.C.-based public interest group engaged in consumer advocacy, government accountability, clean democracy and ethical government, access to the courts, global trade, and regulatory and science policy....
 reported, "Because of Enron’s new, unregulated power auction, the company’s 'Wholesale Services' revenues quadrupled—from $12 billion in the first quarter of 2000 to $48.4 billion in the first quarter of 2001."

Before passage of the deregulation law, there had been only one Stage 3 rolling blackout
Rolling blackout

A rolling blackout, also referred to as load shedding, is an intentionally-engineered electrical power outage. Rolling blackouts are a last resort measure used by an electricity utility company in order to avoid a total blackout of the power system....
 declared. Following passage, California had a total of 38 blackouts defined as Stage 3 rolling blackouts, until federal regulators intervened in June 2001. These blackouts occurred mainly as a result of a poorly designed market system that was manipulated by traders and marketers. Enron traders were revealed as intentionally encouraging the removal of power from the market during California's energy crisis by encouraging suppliers to shut down plants to perform unnecessary maintenance, as documented in recordings made at the time. These acts contributed to the need for rolling blackouts, which adversely affected many businesses dependent upon a reliable supply of electricity, and inconvenienced a large number of retail consumers.

See also

  • Economy of Houston
    Economy of Houston

    The economy of Houston, Texas is primarily based on the energy industry , however, Health science research and aerospace are also large parts of the city's economic base....


Bibliography


  • Robert Bryce
    Robert Bryce (writer)

    Robert Bryce is a journalist in Austin, Texas and the author of Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron and Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate ....
    , Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron (PublicAffairs, 2002) ISBN 1-58648-138-X
  • Lynn Brewer
    Lynn Brewer

    Lynn Brewer, known as Lynn Morgan before her marriage, is the author of the book "Confessions of an Enron Executive: A Whistleblower's Story" . She is also the founder of the Integrity Institute which provides analytical research and education in the area of "structural integrity," and she speaks at conferences or similar events for honorariu...
    , Matthew Scott Hansen, House of Cards, Confessions of An Enron Executive (Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, 2002) ISBN 1-58939-248-5 ISBN 1-58939-248-5
  • Kurt Eichenwald
    Kurt Eichenwald

    Kurt Alexander Eichenwald , an United States writer and investigative reporter formerly with The New York Times and later with Cond? Nast's business magazine, Cond? Nast Portfolio....
    , Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story
    Conspiracy of Fools

    Conspiracy of Fools is a book by Kurt Eichenwald detailing the Enron scandal. It was published in 2005 when Eichenwald was a business journalist with The New York Times....
     (Broadway Books, 2005) ISBN 0-7679-1178-4
  • Peter C. Fusaro, Ross M. Miller, What Went Wrong at Enron: Everyone's Guide to the Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History (Wiley, 2002), ISBN 0-471-26574-8
  • Loren Fox, Enron: The Rise and Fall. (Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2003)
  • Enron's Bust: Was it the result of Over-Confidence or a Confidence Game? USNewsLink/ December 13, 2001
  • Marc Hodak, , Organizational Behavior Research Center Papers (SSRN), June 4, 2007
  • Bethany McLean
    Bethany McLean

    Bethany McLean is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair known for her work on the Enron scandal. She had been an editor at large and columnist for Fortune magazine....
    , Peter Elkind, Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
    Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

    Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2005 in film documentary film based on the best-selling 2003 in literature book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a study of one of the largest business scandals in American history....
     (Portfolio, 2003) ISBN 1-59184-008-2
  • Mimi Swartz, Sherron Watkins
    Sherron Watkins

    Sherron Watkins was Vice President of Corporate Development at the Enron. She is considered by many to be the whistleblower who helped to uncover the Timeline of the Enron scandal in 2001....
    , Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron (Doubleday, 2003) ISBN 0-385-50787-9
  • Daniel Scotto
    Daniel Scotto

    Daniel "Dan" Scotto is an United States financial analyst. In August 2001, as an analyst with BNP Paribas, Scotto downgraded Enron securities from "Buy" to "Neutral"....
     "American Financial Analyst: The First Analyst to recommend the selling of Enron Stock"


External links

  • , Breaking Legal News

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