How Enron Came Undone

Updated from Dec. 1

A year ago, Enron (ENE Quote) was king of the nation's energy markets and worshipped in the stock market. At its peak, the Houston company was worth $70 billion, and its top executives were considered geniuses for using cutting-edge financial engineering to rapidly build a corporate powerhouse that dominated energy trading across the globe. The company proudly occupied a seat in the pantheon of Great American Businesses, alongside the likes of GE, Microsoft and Wal-Mart.

Date of Story	Story Link
Nov. 29	Enron Reaps What Its Cowboy Culture Sowed
Nov. 28	Enron Collapse Could Scramble Energy Markets
Nov. 28	Debt Downgrade Deals Enron a Death Blow
Nov. 21	Plunge Says End Is Near at Enron
Nov. 8	Dynegy Looking to Acquire Enron
Oct. 26	Enron Troubles Only the Tip of the Iceberg?
Oct. 24	Enron's Problems Go Way Beyond Its CFO
Oct. 23	Enron Fails to Smooth Things Over
Oct. 22	Trusts Keeping Enron Off Balance
Oct. 16	Still No Clarity at Enron
Oct. 1	Lessons From Enron's Meltdown
Aug. 30	Trade Winds Blowing Enron Further South
July 12	With Growth Slowing, Enron's Fall Is Far From Over
May 9	Why One Firm Thinks Enron Is Running Out of Gas

Now, Enron has filed for bankruptcy, and its stock trades for under 50 cents. This dizzying descent took many by surprise, including the mom-and-pop mutual funds that fell in love with Enron's once-rising stock and the reputable Wall Street firms that chased the prodigious banking fees Enron paid. So how did this epoch-making collapse happen? And why was it so fast? The reasons are many and complex, but readers of the TheStreet.com's Enron coverage have had a head start, as this story list shows.

However, one thing is clear: The Enron saga illustrates the need to always look below the surface of the Street's success stories. Up until the second quarter of this year, Enron never showed a "bad quarter," nearly always exceeding analysts' estimates. However, it appears that Enron resorted to extraordinary, even dubious, means to achieve its profits performance. Those diligent enough to do the digging saw that these measures couldn't be sustained indefinitely. The old saying once again applies: If it's too good to be true, it probably is.