Enron was founded as a pipeline company in 1985, but under the leadership of Ken Lay and later Jeff Skilling, it transformed into an energy trading giant 💡

The company's rapid growth was fueled by its pioneering of energy trading and deregulation advocacy, making it a Wall Street darling and a titan of the energy sector 💼

For years, Enron's stock soared, and the company was even hailed as "America's Most Innovative Company" by Fortune magazine 🏆

But beneath the surface, Enron was hiding massive debts and losses through complex accounting tricks 📚

The company used special purpose entities (SPEs) to keep debts off its balance sheet, fooling investors and Wall Street analysts 🎭

When the truth emerged, confidence evaporated, leading to Enron's bankruptcy in 2001, one of the largest in U.S. history – at $63.4 BILLION 💣

Thousands of employees lost their jobs and savings, while investors faced huge losses 😢

Enron’s collapse led to major changes in U.S. securities laws, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to prevent such frauds from happening again in the future 🔍

Enron teaches us the importance of transparency, ethical practices, and the dangers of too-good-to-be-true growth stories 🎓