Rise and Fall of Enron
Enron grew to become one of United State's largest firms within a relatively short period of time. Having a global reach and employing approximately 25,000 employees at one time, the company was largely considered successful. However, this was not the case. In this text, I concern myself with the rise and fall of Enron. In so doing, I will explain amongst other things the history of Enron, the business it was involved in and the unethical behavior that led to its fall. Further, I will also take into consideration people implicated in the scandal and the legal actions that were taken against them.
Enron: An Overview
In basic terms, the 1985 merger between InterNorth and Huston Natural Gas informed the formation of Enron as we know it (Fernando, 2009). The merger which took place in Omaha, Nebraska was headed by Kenneth Lay who at the time was the CEO of Huston Natural Gas. Soon after the merger, Lay was named Enron's CEO and chairman. As Fernando (2009) notes, the merger in this case led to the integration of a number of "pipeline systems owned by these companies to create an interstate natural gas pipeline system." It is also important to note that since 1994, the company was also involved in the trading of electricity. The company also pursued an extensive expansion and diversification strategy and at one time, it had a portfolio of approximately 800 different products. Some of the company's products included but were not in any way limited to broadband, petrochemicals, power, steel and water. The firm also had an online market platform where it had in place a number of trading platforms including but not limited to transaction and commodity trading. The company also had its wings spread over other risk management services in which case it was involved in capital management, energy information management as well as...
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