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Enron cuts jobs in Europe
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November 30, 2001: 4:55 p.m. ET
Cuts 1,100 in London, leaving 10% of employees to wind up operations.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Enron Corp. cut 1,100 jobs in Europe Friday as the troubled energy trading company gets set for what many analysts and legal specialists say is an almost inevitable bankruptcy filing.
Enron employees leaving the company's offices in London told CNN that a small staff will remain to wind up existing operations. The crippled energy company has 21,000 staff worldwide.
Enron (ENE: down $0.10 to $0.26, Research, Estimates) is likely to file for bankruptcy early next week, a person familiar with the situation told CNN Friday.
Another person said, however, that Enron was still considering all its options. "We don't know about next week," the person told CNN/Money late Friday, adding the company was "looking at all sorts of options."
But if it does file next week it is expected to be under Chapter 11, and not Chapter 7, of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, people involved in the situation said. In Chapter 11, a company is protected from creditors while it stays in business and tries to reorganize; a Chapter 7 is usually a liquidation.
After failing to salvage a rescue deal with Dynegy Inc. Wednesday, the expected filing by Enron would be the biggest bankruptcy in the nation's history.
With about $62 billion in assets, Enron's bankruptcy would dwarf that of Texaco Inc., which had $36 billion in assets when it filed in the spring of 1987, according to BankruptcyData.com.
The filing would mark a stunning reversal for Enron, once the nation's largest energy trading company, whose stock has lost nearly all its value over the last year as its financial problems mounted.
Shortly after the deal with Dynegy collapsed, Enron Chief Financial Officer Jeff McMahon said late Wednesday that he prefers to fix Enron without going to bankruptcy court, but he would not rule out a filing. Enron sought protection from creditors for its European energy trading operations Thursday.
As Enron weighs its future, the embattled energy company faces the prospect of lengthy hearings in Congress after its unprecedented collapse.
If Enron files Chapter 11, it will need a so-called debtor-in-possession loan to help it start paying back some creditors and allow it to renegotiate with others. But Enron is still trying to determine the amount needed, a source said.
Enron declined to comment. 
Reuters contributed to this story
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