Kenneth Lay formed Enron in 1985 as a result of the merging of Houston Natural Gas Corporation

and InterNorth, Inc., two natural gas transportation businesses. In 1986, Enron was rebranded from
HNG InterNorth.The corporation lost its sole authority to run its pipelines after the U.S. Congress
passed a number of measures to deregulate the selling of natural gas in the early 1990s. Enron
changed itself into a trader of energy derivative contracts, functioning as a middleman between
natural-gas suppliers and their clients, with the aid of Jeffrey Skilling, who started out as a consultant
and subsequently rose to become the company's chief operating officer. By fixing the selling price of
their goods through a contract written by Enron for a charge, the trades permitted the producers to
reduce the risk of fluctuations in the price of energy.

Under Skilling's direction, Enron quickly gained control of the natural gas contract market and began
making enormous profits from its trading. Additionally, Skilling steadily altered the company's
culture to emphasise aggressive trading. He cultivated a very competitive atmosphere inside the
business by hiring top people from top MBA programmes around the nation. This environment saw a
growing level of emphasis placed on completing as many cash-generating deals as possible in the
quickest amount of time. Andrew Fastow, one of his smartest hires, moved swiftly through the ranks
to become Enron's top financial officer. While Skilling handled the development of the company's
massive trading activity, Fastow oversaw the financing of the business through investments in more
sophisticated securities.

The Enron crisis, which caused 4,000 people to lose their jobs, has now become the largest
bankruptcy in American history. The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation
after it was discovered that Enron's bookkeeping was incorrect. By the end of October 2001, this
examination had developed into a thorough inquiry, and on December 2 of that same year, the
business filed for bankruptcy.

Enron's goals were fueled by the 1990s bull market, which also contributed to its explosive rise.
Deals could be done just about everywhere, and the business was prepared to establish a market for
anything that anyone was willing to exchange.As a result, it traded derivative contracts for a wide
range of commodities, including steel, power, coal, paper, and the weather. During the dot-com
boom, Enron internet, a subsidiary for internet trading, was established. By 2001, it was carrying out
around $2.5 billion worth of online deals per day. To enable high-speed trading, Enron also made
investments in the development of a broadband telecommunications network.

Downfall and Bankruptcy