Buy, Lie, and Sell High: How Investors Lost Out on Enron and the Internet Bubble

Enron's Significance

Enron was already an established corporation long before the Internet was conceived. It had much greater ability than a start-up to conceal what was really happening in the firm and thereby was able to hold on long after the Internet bubble had burst and start-ups were collapsing on every side. It was some 18 months after the crash had begun that Enron began its tumble, but when it came, it came quickly. And because this was the heart of the economy, the shock was profound, bringing with it:

• The collapse of the company itself;

• The destruction of one of the nation's major accounting firms;

• The besmirching of the reputation of the accounting profession generally;

• The embarrassment of many of the nation's most important political ...