Enron And Enron Of Enron - 1781 Words

â€Å"During the Enron debacle, it was workers who took the pounding, not bankers. Not only did Enron employees lose their jobs, many lost their retirement savings. That s because they were at the bottom of the investing food chain.† In July of 1985, Houston Natural Gas merged with InterNorth, to create Enron, and Kenneth Lay became CEO the following year. In 1989, Enron began trading natural gas commodities. In 1997, Andrew Fastow devised the first steps to hide debts and inflate profits and one year later, he was named the CFO of Enron. In the year 2000, shares of Enron reached a peak of $90. Enron claimed $101 billion in revenues, and as a direct result of this, became the sixth largest energy company in the world. After all of these rapid†¦show more content†¦During the West Coast power crisis, homes went dark and street lights were out in California, causing injuries and accidents. But the danger didn’t stop Enron’s energy traders from having a good laugh. Newly released evidence shows that years before the crisis, Enron schemed to manipulate markets. The new tapes routinely recorded by Enron to protect their own deals, and later obtained by Snohomish County Public Utility District Number 1, confirmed what had been constantly reported for four years. Enron secretly shut down power plants so they could cause, and then cash in on, the crisis. Power plant operators were coached on how to lie to officials. Enron also pulled power out of states like California, causing emergency conditions to worsen. The shut downs and pull outs triggered sky high power prices and when states complained, the traders instructed the states to leave them alone, and let them make a little bit of money. When the schemes began to unravel, employees blamed the men running Enron. Mark to market accounting was introduced by former Enron President and CEO, Jeff Skilling. This allowed Enron to book potential future profits on the very day the deal was signed , even if some states had yet to deregulate their power markets. No matter how little cash actually came in the door, to the outside world, Enron’s profits could be whatever Enron said they were. Enron’s former CFO, Andrew Fastow, had his eye on John Olson, one