On December 2, 2001, the Enron Corporation filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy protection in a New York court, sparking one of
the largest corporate scandals in U.S. history.
An energy-trading company based in Houston, Texas, Enron
was formed in 1985 as the merger of two gas companies,
Houston Natural Gas and Internorth. Under chairman and
CEO Kenneth Lay, Enron rose as high as number seven on
Fortune magazine’s list of the top 500 U.S. companies.
In 2000, the company employed 21,000 people and posted
revenue of $111 billion. Over the next year, however, Enron’s
stock price began a dramatic slide, dropping from $90.75 in
August 2000 to $0.26 by closing on November 30, 2001.
Enron’s collapse had cost investors billions of dollars, wiped
out some 5,600 jobs and liquidated almost $2.1 billion in
pension plans.
Kenneth Lee Lay (April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006)
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