Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation (formerly Enron Corporation, former NYSE ticker symbol ENE) was an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy in late 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 (McLean & Elkind, 2003) and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, pulp and paper, and communications companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion in 2000. Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years. At the end of 2001 it was revealed that its reported financial condition was sustained substantially by institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud, known as the "Enron scandal". Enron has since become a popular symbol of willful corporate fraud and corruption. The scandal was also considered a landmark case in the field of business fraud and brought into question the accounting practices of many corporations throughout the United States.

Enron filed for bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of New York in late 2001 and selected Weil, Gotshal & Manges as its bankruptcy counsel. It emerged from bankruptcy in November 2004 after one of the biggest and most complex bankruptcy cases in U.S. history. On September 7, 2006, Enron sold Prisma Energy International Inc., its last remaining business, to Ashmore Energy International Ltd. Following the scandal, lawsuits against Enron's directors were notable because the directors settled the suits by paying very significant sums of money personally. The scandal also caused the dissolution of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, affecting the wider business world.

In early 2007, Enron changed its name to Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation, to reflect its status as a (largely) asset-less shell corporation. Its current goal is to liquidate all remaining assets of the company. For most of 2007, Enron continued to operate under the name Enron Corp. by filing a Doing Business As, or "dba" certificate in Harris County, Texas.

Early history

The merged company initially named itself "HNG/InterNorth Inc.", even though InterNorth was the nominal survivor. It built a large headquarters complex in Omaha. However, the departure of ex-InterNorth CEO Samuell Segnar six months after the merger allowed former HNG CEO Kenneth Lay to become CEO of the newly merged company. Lay soon moved Enron's headquarters to Houston and began to thoroughly re-brand the business. Lay originally favored the name "Enteron" (possibly spelled in camelcase as "EnterOn"); but when it was pointed out that the term approximated a Greek word referring to the intestines, it was quickly shortened to "Enron." The final name was decided upon only after business cards, stationery, and other items had been printed reading Enteron, reflecting the confused state of affairs in the company at the time. Enron's "crooked E" logo was designed in the mid-1990s by the late American graphic designer Paul Rand.