Pipe Dreams Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron

by Bryce, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781586482015
• ISBN10: 1586482017
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-08
• Publisher: PublicAffairs

Summary

After the shocking collapse of Enron in fall, 2001 came an equally shocking series of disclosures about how America's seventh-largest company had destroyed itself. There were unethical deals, offshore accounts, and accounting irregularities. There were Wall Street analysts who seemed to have been asleep on the job. There were the lies top executives told so that they could line their own pockets while workers and shareholders lost billions. But after all these disclosures, the question remains: Why? Why did a thriving, innovative company with rock-solid cash flow and reliable earnings suddenly flame out in a maelstrom of corruption, fraud and skulduggery? The answer, Texas business journalist Robert Bryce reveals in this incisive and entertaining book, is that bad business practices begin with human beings. Pipe Dreams traces Enron's astounding transformation from a small regional gas pipeline company into an energy Goliath...and then tracks step-by-step, business decision by business decision, extra-marital affair by extra-marital affair, how, when and why the culture of Enron began to go rotten, and who was responsible. The story of Enron's fall isn't just a story about accounting procedures; it's a story about people. Bryce tells that story with all the personality, passion, humor, and inside dope you'd hope for, and the result is an un-putdownable read in the tradition ofBarbarians at the GateandThe Predators' Ball.

Author Biography

Robert Bryce spent twelve years as a reporter for the Austin Chronicle and was most recently a senior writer at Interactive Week. He has published more than 800 articles for publications including The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Talk, Texas Monthly, U. S. News & World Report, and Salon. He lives in Austin, Texas. PublicAffairs will publish his new book, Cronies, in spring 2004.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	xi
Introduction	xv
Molly Ivins
The Job Fair	1	(12)
John Henry Kirby and the Roots of Enron	13	(11)
Buy or Be Bought	24	(7)
The Merger	31	(3)
The Lays Move to River Oaks	34	(3)
The Valhalla Fiasco	37	(7)
``The Smartest Son of a Bitch I've Ever Met''	44	(8)
Banking on the Gas Bank	52	(8)
Mark-to-Market Account-a-Rama	60	(9)
Enron Goes International: Teesside	69	(7)
The Big Shot Buying Binge	76	(9)
``Kenny Boy''	85	(8)
The Dabhol Debacle	93	(11)
OPIC: Sweet Subsidies	104	(7)
A Kinder, Gentler Enron	111	(9)
The Reign of Skilling	120	(6)
``A Pit of Vipers''	126	(6)
Cash Flow Problems, Part I	132	(5)
Chewco: The 3-Percent Solution	137	(7)
Sexcapades	144	(5)
The Family Lay	149	(6)
LJM1	155	(6)
Buying Off the Board	161	(8)
The Deal Diva	169	(6)
Enron's Waterworld	175	(15)
Hyping the Bandwidth Bubble	190	(9)
Andy Fastow Arrives . . . in River Oaks	199	(6)
Strippers and Stock Options	205	(10)
Casino Enron: Cash Flow Problems, Part 2	215	(8)
LJM2	223	(9)
The Big Five Versus the SEC	232	(8)
Derivatives Hocus-Pocus	240	(5)
Ken Rice: Missing in Action	245	(4)
Analysts Who Think	249	(8)
Air Enron	257	(10)
Skilling Says a Bad Word	267	(3)
George W. to the Rescue, Part I	270	(5)
Broadband Blues	275	(9)
Sleepless in Houston: Cash Flow Problems, Part 3	284	(9)
Sherron Watkins Saves Her Own Ass	293	(7)
George W. to the Rescue, Part 2	300	(5)
You Gotta Have Art	305	(4)
Revenge of the Raptors	309	(4)
``An Outstanding Job as CFO''	313	(5)
Fastow Goes Bye-Bye	318	(3)
Posh PJ's	321	(2)
Greenspan Gets the Enron Prize	323	(5)
One Restatement Too Many	328	(6)
The Downgrade	334	(5)
The Bankruptcy	339	(4)
``Salvation Armani''	343	(20)
Aftermath	363	(10)
The Enron Scorecard	373	(4)
Notes	377	(14)
Bibliography	391	(4)
Index	395