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CNN Live At Daybreak

NYSE Delists Enron

Aired January 16, 2002 - 05:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Back in the United States, the embattled Enron Corporation, that's what we want to talk about right now. The company is in bankruptcy, and it's facing yet another blow. The New York Stock Exchange is moving to take the big energy company off its trading board.

CNN's Peter Viles looks into that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world's biggest stock market yanked the welcome mat out from under Enron, moving to delist its battered stock, citing, "the expected protracted nature of the company's bankruptcy process." Those still holding Enron shares took it on the chin once again. The stock had already fallen 99 percent in a year to just $0.67 last Thursday. It was quoted this afternoon at $0.30 to $0.35 a share in its likely new home, the over the counter market.

WILLIAM LERACH, MILBERG WEISS: There's always some sort of a market available for a delisted stock, whether it's over the counter, under the counter, pink sheets. All the delisting really does is prove that the stock is essentially worthless.

VILES: Wall Street pros said the main trading in Enron lately had been by those treating it as a "lottery ticket," cheap, but with little chance of paying off.

ARTHUR CASHIN, UBS PAINEWEBBER: We've seen time and time again many of these things, when they get to this level, they get delisted because just being listed sometimes allows for a little bit of false hope, and you don't want to encourage that.

VILES: If and when it is delisted, Enron will join this list: Polaroid, Sunbeam, Reliance Group Holdings, Fruit of the Loom and Planet Hollywood. And by revenue and market value and by the sheer velocity of its collapse, Enron's is the biggest bankruptcy ever. But by assets, it does have competition. Texaco, when it filed in 1987, listed assets of $35 billion. Adjusted for inflation, that's $56 billion. Enron listed assets of $49 billion. Penn Central, when it filed in 1970, listed $6.8 billion in assets. That's $31 billion in current dollars.

(on camera): Enron has two options now regarding its stock and neither one is particularly good. It can try to fight the NYSE and try to stay on the big board, but the NYSE almost always wins these fights. Or it can voluntarily apply for delisting and try to get on with what's left of its corporate life.

Peter Viles, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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