Enron Timeline

1985   -  ENRON is created through the merger of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, forming the largest gas pipeline company in the USA with 37,000 miles of pipe. 

1986   -  Kenneth Lay is named Chairman and CEO of the new company. As Chairman and CEO of Houston Natural Gas, he has helped to orchestrate the merger.  

1989  - Jeff Skilling, former senior partner at McKinsey & Company, joins ENRON.  

1990  -  Jeff Skilling hires Andrew Fastow as a manager of the ENRON Finance Corporation.

1994 - Congress submits to significant lobbying from ENRON, among others, to deregulate the electricity market. This allows the company to engage in electricity trading at market rates.  

1996 -  Jeff Skilling becomes No.2 at ENRON as its new President and Chief Operating Officer. ENRON’s workforce has risen in six years from 200 to 2000 and revenues have increased from $2 billion to $7 billion.  

1998 -  Andrew Fastow is promoted to the post of ENRON’s Chief Financial Officer. Meanwhile, the company loses large amounts of money by attempting to enter the water business and trying to expand into Brazil.  

1999 - The Board of ENRON waives its conflict of interest rules so that Andrew Fastow can run private partnerships that will do business with ENRON. Fastow creates the first of these, LJM, which, under a smokescreen of  legitimacy, hides the debts of ENRON.   

2000   - California is blacked out on numerous occasions as a result of an energy crisis. Electricity is in short supply and prices soar. ENRON is accused of partly stage managing the crisis in order to boost profits.  

Dec 2000 - ENRON’s share prices rocket to their highest ever level, $84.87. This makes the company America’s seventh most valuable company.  

Oct 2001 - ENRON reports a third-quarter loss of $618 million.

Nov 2001 - ENRON revises its financial statements for the past five years. Instead of the significant profits previously posted, it has lost $586 million  

Dec 2001 - After an aborted merger attempt by Dynegy, ENRON files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy  protection.  

2004/2006 - Following lengthy investigations, in which Andrew Fastow offers key evidence, ENRON’s former Chief Financial Officer accepts a ten year jail sentence as a result of plea bargaining. At the end of their trials, Kenneth Lay is convicted on the six counts against him and Jeff Skilling is convicted on 19 of the 28 counts that he has faced. Kenneth Lay dies of a heart attack and his sentence is therefore abated. Jeff Skilling is sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in jail and fined $45 million. He is currently serving his sentence in Littleton, Colorado. The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear Skilling’s appeal in early 2010

Source: Enron Education Pack