Mark Norris/Houston Public Media
There are more questions than answers after a multiplatform blitz on Monday heralded the return of a company that haunts the city of Houston decades after its notorious collapse.
At least one billboard, a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle and a new website promoted Enron. Yes, the energy company that is now used in university classrooms nationwide as the example of corporate malfeasance is apparently back from the dead.
The question is who’s doing it and what’s the reason.
For the time being, a paper trail connects the new Enron to a company known for online jokes and merch sales.
The College Company owns the rights to the Enron trademark. The company is co-founded by Connor Gaydos and Peter McIndoe. The two are most known for their “Birds Aren’t Real” mock-conspiracy that generated tens of thousands of memes and selling some merchandise.
Is Enron their next meme generator or is something else possible?
A press release on the website was filled with generic corporate speak, but promised a “relaunch as a company dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.”
A now-deleted video on Twitter/X teased a cryptocurrency offering.
But what you can do on the website is buy some merch. Hoodies, T-shirts, water bottles and stickers are among the offerings.
Enron’s cooking of the books, most notably it’s “mark-to-market accounting,” triggered a massive fallout when the company fell apart in 2001.
CEO Jeff Skilling and Chairman Ken Lay were convicted on conspiracy and fraud charges. Skilling served 12 years while Lay died before sentencing. CFO Andy Fastow got six years in prison.
Auditing firm Arthur Anderson dissolved after its role in the scheme was revealed.
Despite multiple lawsuits, most Enron employees lost nearly all their 401k retirement funds linked to the company’s stock.
The federal government responded to the collapse with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It was passed in 2002 as a part of reform efforts to prevent future wrongdoing.
