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Enron Corporation (former New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol ENE) was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 20,000 staff and was one of the world's major electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $111 billion during 2000.〔(Mergent Online | Enron Company Financials | Annual Income Statement ). 〕 ''Fortune'' named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years. At the end of 2001, it was revealed that its reported financial condition was sustained substantially by an institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud, known since as the Enron scandal. Enron has since become a well-known example of willful corporate fraud and corruption. The scandal also brought into question the accounting practices and activities of many corporations in the United States and was a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. The scandal also affected the greater business world by causing the dissolution of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. Enron filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York in late 2001 and selected Weil, Gotshal & Manges as its bankruptcy counsel. It ended its bankruptcy during November 2004, pursuant to a court-approved plan of reorganization, after one of the most complex bankruptcy cases in U.S. history. A new board of directors changed the name of Enron to Enron Creditors Recovery Corp., and emphasized reorganizing and liquidating certain operations and assets of the pre-bankruptcy Enron.〔() 〕 On September 7, 2006, Enron sold Prisma Energy International Inc., its last remaining business, to Ashmore Energy International Ltd. (now AEI). ==Early history== Enron's predecessor was the Northern Natural Gas Company, which was formed in 1932, in Omaha, Nebraska. It was reorganized in 1979 as the main subsidiary of a holding company, InterNorth which was a diversified energy and energy-related products company. InterNorth was a major business for natural gas production, transmission and marketing as well as for natural gas liquids, and was an innovator in the plastics industry. The company initially named itself "HNG/InterNorth Inc.", even though InterNorth was the nominal parent. It built a large and lavish headquarters complex with pink granite in Omaha (dubbed locally as the "Pink Palace"), that was later sold to Physicians Mutual corporation. However, the departure of ex-InterNorth and first CEO of Enron Corp Samuel Segnar six months after the merger allowed former HNG CEO Kenneth Lay to become the next CEO of the newly merged company. Lay soon relocated the company's headquarters to Houston (after promising to keep it in Omaha) and began to change the business. Lay and his secretary, Nancy McNeil, originally selected the name "Enteron" (possibly spelled in "upper camelcase" as "EnterOn"), but, when informed that the term approximated a Greek word referring to the intestines, they quickly abbreviated the name to Enron. The final name was decided upon only after business cards, stationery, and other items had been printed reading "Enteron". Enron's "crooked E" logo was designed during the mid-1990s by the American graphic designer Paul Rand. Rand's original design included one of the elements of the E in yellow which disappeared when copied or faxed. This was quickly replaced by a green element. Almost immediately after the relocation to Houston, Enron began selling major assets such as its chemicals division, Northern PetroChemicals, accepted silent partners in Enron CoGeneration, Northern Border Pipeline and Transwestern Pipeline, and became a less diversified company. Early financial analysts said Enron was accumulating great debt and the sale of major operations would not solve the problem. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Enron」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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