|
A chronology of Enron Corp.
|
 |
January 21, 2002: 5:16 p.m. ET
Here are some key dates in the history of energy trading titan Enron Corp.
|
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Following are key dates in the history of bankrupt energy trading firm Enron Corp.:
1985 - Houston Natural Gas merges with InterNorth, a natural gas company based in Omaha, Neb., to form the modern-day Enron, an interstate and intrastate gas pipeline company with 37,000 miles of pipe.
1986 - Kenneth Lay is appointed chairman and chief executive officer of Enron.
1989 - Enron begins trading natural gas commodities. Over the years, the company becomes the largest natural gas merchant in North America and the United Kingdom.
Aug. 2000 - Enron shares hit an all-time high of $90.56.
Dec. 2000 - Enron announces that president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Skilling will take over as CEO in February. Lay will remain as chairman. (Click here for more)
Aug. 14, 2001 - Skilling resigns as Enron president and CEO after running the company for just six months; the company attributed his departure to personal reasons. Lay returns to the CEO post. (Click here for more)
Aug. 20 to 21, 2001 - Lay purchases shares of Enron by exercising company options, buying 68,000 shares at prices of $20.78 to $21.56. Lay, however, disposed of some the shares shortly afterwards to repay a loan, according to Lay's lawyer.
Aug. 22, 2001 - Sherron Watkins, the vice president, meets with Lay, warning him that the company might "implode in a wave of accounting scandals." She also questions why Enron prevents employees from selling their shares. (Click here for more)
Sep. 26, 2001 - Lay uses an Internet chat to encourage employees to buy Enron stock. He tells them that Enron stock is "an incredible bargain" and predicts that the value of the company would increase 800 percent or more in the next decade. (Click here for more)
Oct. 12, 2001 - David Duncan, the former chief auditor for Andersen's Enron account, organizes a two-week document destruction effort to discard many records, according to auditor Arthur Andersen.
But Duncan says the Big Five accounting firm's lawyers had suddenly began emphasizing Andersen's policy allowing destruction of some documents. (Click here for more)
Oct. 16, 2001 - Enron reports its first quarterly loss in over four years after taking charges of $1 billion on poorly performing businesses. (Click here for more)
Oct. 22, 2001 - Enron says U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into transactions between Enron and the Andrew Fastow partnerships. (Click here for more)
Oct. 23, 2001 - Andersen begins to shred Enron documents.
Nov. 28, 2001 - Dynegy backs out of deal after Enron's credit rating is downgraded to "junk" bond status. Enron shares plunge below $1 amid the heaviest single-day trading volume ever for a NYSE or Nasdaq-listed stock. (Click here for more)
Nov. 8, 2001 - Enron says it overstated earnings dating back to 1997 by almost $600 million. (Click here for more)
Dec. 2, 2001 - Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and hits Dynegy with a $10 billion breach of contract lawsuit. (Click here for more)
Dec. 12, 2001 - Congressional hearings begin on Enron's collapse. Enron unveils plans to raise up to $6 billion by selling assets.
Dec. 15, 2001 - Labor Department begins probe of Enron's handling of 401(k) accounts. (Click here for more)
Jan. 9, 2002 - The Justice Department opens a criminal investigation of Enron. (Click here for more)
Jan. 10, 2002 - Andersen admits employees disposed of documents relating to Enron's audit. (Click here for more)
Jan. 17, 2002 - Enron decides to fire Andersen, blaming the auditor for destroying Enron documents government investigators were seeking for a probe into the energy trader's murky book-keeping. (Click here for more) 
-- from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
