Enron takes Cooper
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January 29, 2002: 10:48 a.m. ET
Turnaround specialist named CEO, chief restructuring officer
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp. named corporate turnaround specialist Stephen Cooper interim CEO and chief restructuring officer Tuesday.
Cooper and several other executives that were named to the company's office of the CEO will begin working immediately with Enron's existing management and its creditors, the company said in a statement.
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CNNfn's Allan Chernoff reports on Enron's new CEO.
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In a voicemail sent to Enron employees after his appointment Tuesday, Cooper said he was confident the company would emerge from bankruptcy. He said Enron was in much better shape than many of the companies he had previously helped turn around.
"They don't start with anywhere nearly as strong a position as this company. They were able to emerge from bankruptcy and I am confident Enron will also," Cooper said in the voicemail, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
Cooper replaces former chief executive and chairman Kenneth Lay, who resigned last week amid a deepening investigation of the company's shady finance deals. Problems with those deals led to Enron's bankruptcy filing Dec. 2, the biggest corporate failure in U.S. history.
"Our focus is the future of Enron," Cooper said in a statement, "We will work closely with the board of directors, management and the creditors' committee to develop a reorganization plan to maximize value for the company's stakeholders."
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Stephen Cooper | |
Cooper, a founder and managing partner at Zolfo Cooper LLC, a New York corporate turnaround consulting firm, had been the front runner for the CEO position since the search began after Lay's resignation. He has more than 30 years of experience in restructuring and turning around bankrupt businesses.
Enron's board also named Jeff McMahon president and chief operating officer, and Ray Bowen executive vice president and chief financial officer. Both are current Enron executives.
The company is still looking for a new chairman.
Naming Cooper is only the latest management chapter in the Enron bankruptcy saga, which so far has included Lay's resignation, the suicide last week of Enron's former vice chairman, Cliff Baxter, the massive unloading of Enron shares by the company's current and former executives, as well as what appears to have been significant document destruction both by Enron and its chief auditor, accounting firm Arthur Andersen.
-- Reuters contributed to this report
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