Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron
by Robert Bryce
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Description
"Enron. The word has become synonymous with excess, avarice, and Wall Street skullduggery. It wasn't always so. Once upon a time, Enron was a stable, profitable company with some of the best energy assets in the world. But in the late 1990s, the company changed." "Surely you've heard about some of Enron's convoluted deals and nefarious accounting practices. But what hasn't been explained is Why? Why did this once-thriving, innovative company with rock-solid cash flow suddenly implode? The show more answer, Texas business journalist Robert Bryce reveals in this book, is that bad business practices begin with human beings." "Pipe Dreams is not your typical boring business book. It's a gossipy, funny, irreverent analysis of Why Enron Failed. It traces Enron's 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 Enron's leaders were corrupted. Based on interviews with more than 200 current and former Enron employees, as well as Wall Street analysts and dozens of company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pipe Dreams tells the inside story of the greed, sex, and excess that strangled the seventh-largest corporation in America. It contains profiles of the company's key miscreants, including Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, Andrew Fastow, and Lou Pai, the secretive trading whiz who sold more stock - $270 million worth - than any Enron executive. There's also a devastating profile of Rebecca Mark, a largely-ignored player in the Enron saga, whose bad deals in India and the water business cost investors $2 billion."--Jacket. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
If you enjoyed the TV series Dallas with JR and the rest of the Ewings, you'll enjoy the stories within this book. Greed, affairs, duplicity, stupidity and treachery are recurrent themes. What bothers me most about the Enron story is how the regulators, analysts, press, SEC and federal government allowed many of the business and financial shenanigans to go on so long.
There are very few heroes in this book. When everyone is making a lot of money, no one wants to pull back the curtains and let everyone know how things are really done.
There are a number of very good books and articles about the Enron fiasco. This is close to the top...
There are very few heroes in this book. When everyone is making a lot of money, no one wants to pull back the curtains and let everyone know how things are really done.
There are a number of very good books and articles about the Enron fiasco. This is close to the top...
Enron (Subject)
See also 16 boxes of documents in SH Archive.
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Author Information
8+ Works 526 Members
Robert Bryce, acclaimed author and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, argues that the catastrophists are wrong. Innovation and the inexorable human desire to make things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper are the real keys to a richer planet.
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Jeffrey K. Skilling
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Business, General Nonfiction, Economics, History
- DDC/MDS
- 333.79 — Society, government, & culture Economics Economics of land and energy Conservation, Alternative Energy Sources Energy - alternative, renewable
- LCC
- HD9502 .U54 .E573 — Social sciences Industries. Land use. Labor Industries. Land use. Labor Special industries and trades Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 116
- Popularity
- 280,068
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 2
