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American Morning

Enron's One Year Anniversary Marked With Auction of Corporate Items

Aired December 02, 2002 - 08:47   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're looking for soem other treasures on Wall Street and how time flies. Today marking an infamous coproate anniversary. Andy Serwer, minding your business. Happy anniversary.
ANDY SERWER, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Happy anniversary, Dyran. If you happen to remember, it's the one-year anniversary of the day that Enron declared bankruptcy. The mother-in-law of all corporate scandals. That was the first one, the big one, of course. It was the one that started this whole incredible wave.

The seventh largest company in the United States at the time. Sixty-three billion dollar bankruptcy, $60 billion of shareholder wealth disappeared, 4,500 jobs lost, the stock went from $80 to 11 cents. It shouldn't be worth anything, it's a mystery why it's still trading at all.

So it was the one that started it all and it's the one that captured our attention and got congressional hearings going. We knew Andy Fastow, Kenny Lay and all these guys. And of course other scandals followed.

KAGAN: They did and there were bigger ones, unfortunately, to follow that. Enron, I guess as you're saying, has captured the imagination, I guess at least with people online.

SERWER: Right. We went to Amazon.com and eBay. And it's really interesting to notice here that the amount of items at Amazon.com -- there you go. At eBay, for instance, you can see there are 268 Enron items available to be purchased, only 48 WorldCom. And if you go to Amazon, there are 54 books or CDs -- only 19 for WorldCom. People really are just fascinated by this case. It's still ongoing.

KAGAN: Something about being first. A lot of people would still like to see some of those top officials you talked about perhaps spend some time behind bars.

SERWER: Absolutely. Another one of those auctions this week, if anyone's interested in some Christmas gifts. You remember, they've had a couple of these already where they sell those crooked E's. There are more crooked E's for sale.

KAGAN: How many E's could there possibly be?

SERWER: There are dozens of E's out there. There's one of them right there. One of them went for $44,000...

KAGAN: No.

SERWER: ... in England. So it's going to be tomorrow online in a Houston hotel. Also the disco E which is an E with lights that swing around. They're also auctioning off about 18 high-end cars that used to ferry all of these guys around.

And interstingly, just an end note here. There was a fire over the weekend at Andy Fastow's house. You remember he was the ex-CFO. There it is. This is the $3.9 million mansion.

KAGAN: He doesn't live there anymore?

SERWER: He doesn't live there. He sold it. But apparently this is a case of arson. So maybe it's a disgruntled former employee. No one was hurt. Interesting situation there.

KAGAN: I think maybe with the E's and the auction they should get Vanna White there to auction off the E's.

SERWER: A good one.

KAGAN: Andy, Thank you so much for bring us up to date on Enron and WroldCom and everything online.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Corporate Items>


Aired December 2, 2002 - 08:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're looking for soem other treasures on Wall Street and how time flies. Today marking an infamous coproate anniversary. Andy Serwer, minding your business. Happy anniversary.
ANDY SERWER, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Happy anniversary, Dyran. If you happen to remember, it's the one-year anniversary of the day that Enron declared bankruptcy. The mother-in-law of all corporate scandals. That was the first one, the big one, of course. It was the one that started this whole incredible wave.

The seventh largest company in the United States at the time. Sixty-three billion dollar bankruptcy, $60 billion of shareholder wealth disappeared, 4,500 jobs lost, the stock went from $80 to 11 cents. It shouldn't be worth anything, it's a mystery why it's still trading at all.

So it was the one that started it all and it's the one that captured our attention and got congressional hearings going. We knew Andy Fastow, Kenny Lay and all these guys. And of course other scandals followed.

KAGAN: They did and there were bigger ones, unfortunately, to follow that. Enron, I guess as you're saying, has captured the imagination, I guess at least with people online.

SERWER: Right. We went to Amazon.com and eBay. And it's really interesting to notice here that the amount of items at Amazon.com -- there you go. At eBay, for instance, you can see there are 268 Enron items available to be purchased, only 48 WorldCom. And if you go to Amazon, there are 54 books or CDs -- only 19 for WorldCom. People really are just fascinated by this case. It's still ongoing.

KAGAN: Something about being first. A lot of people would still like to see some of those top officials you talked about perhaps spend some time behind bars.

SERWER: Absolutely. Another one of those auctions this week, if anyone's interested in some Christmas gifts. You remember, they've had a couple of these already where they sell those crooked E's. There are more crooked E's for sale.

KAGAN: How many E's could there possibly be?

SERWER: There are dozens of E's out there. There's one of them right there. One of them went for $44,000...

KAGAN: No.

SERWER: ... in England. So it's going to be tomorrow online in a Houston hotel. Also the disco E which is an E with lights that swing around. They're also auctioning off about 18 high-end cars that used to ferry all of these guys around.

And interstingly, just an end note here. There was a fire over the weekend at Andy Fastow's house. You remember he was the ex-CFO. There it is. This is the $3.9 million mansion.

KAGAN: He doesn't live there anymore?

SERWER: He doesn't live there. He sold it. But apparently this is a case of arson. So maybe it's a disgruntled former employee. No one was hurt. Interesting situation there.

KAGAN: I think maybe with the E's and the auction they should get Vanna White there to auction off the E's.

SERWER: A good one.

KAGAN: Andy, Thank you so much for bring us up to date on Enron and WroldCom and everything online.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Corporate Items>