People over the world want to know what happened to Enron. Although this company's name was splashed over every news network and periodical paper in the United States, few people know the long and torrid story that lead to the collapse of an energy giant.
Enron began in the eighties as an energy company selling natural gas. When energy markets were deregulated in the mid-nineties, Enron, like many energy companies, began to focus on selling energy from other sources rather than creating it. The corporation expanded exponentially, and its stock prices soared. Because the company was so wildly successful, they began to branch out into a variety of hot markets, such as the internet. By the beginning of the millennium, Enron was a well-diversified and seemingly indestructible conglomerate with no sign of trouble in sight.
However, cracks were forming in Enron's foundation. To sustain their rapid rate of growth, the company had to borrow money. Having excess debts would make the stock look less valuable to potential investors, so the company kept its debts buried in 'partner' corporations that it began solely as a means to hide the truth about their company.
Enron was looking better and better because of their illegal and unethical bookkeeping practices. They also began another illegal practice: offering secret information to large potential investors. Legally, companies must give their smaller investors the same inside information as their larger shareholders.
Although Enron was beginning to show signs of financial failure by 2001, they hid this unfortunate fact by continuing with their unethical accounting. Industry peers were beginning to question how this one company made so much money so consistently. While the CEO Kennth Lay insisted that the company was on the up-and-up, he secretly sold his stock.
On October 16th, 2001, Enron was finally unable to hide the