The Greatest Marketing Scandal of All Time
Enron is known as a symbol of corporate greed. But what if marketing trickery was really at the heart of the problem?
At the beginning of August in 2001, Enron was known as a successful, stable energy company that had made a fortune in the oil industry and was now pioneering a new form of financial commodity training.
The company was wildly profitable, employing over 20,000 employees and solidifying its position as the seventh-largest company in the United States. With a market value of $70 billion and a stock that traded at $90 per share, Enron was just too big to fail.
That all changed in a matter of weeks.
Two Wall Street Journal reporters, John Emshwiller and Rebecca Smith, received leaked documents from an Enron whistleblower. The leaked documents revealed gaps in Enron’s accounting practices, disclosing that the company was involved in self-dealing trading partnerships to shield large losses and boost the company’s stock price.
By October, it was clear that widespread fraud had occurred. The stock price began plummeting and heads began to roll. In early December of 2001, Enron declared bankruptcy.
