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101-464: Corporate Knights Inc. was co-founded in 2002 by Toby A. Heaps, Paul Fengler and Peter Diplaros. According to Heaps, the trio created the magazine as a "halfway house between Adbusters and Forbes." The magazine was first published in the wake of the accounting scandal at Enron and WorldCom with the objective of holding companies more accountable. The three founders believed that "if you want to make social change, it's through business." Heaps later coined

202-579: A circular economy strategy in their product design . In 2021, Patagonia announced that it would no longer produce its clothing with added corporate logos to improve garment life-spans. In December 2021, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights filed a criminal complaint in a Dutch court against Patagonia and other brands, alleging that they benefited from the use of forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang , China . On 10 June 2023,

303-463: A $ 45 million penalty (later reduced). Fastow was sentenced to six years of jail time, and Lou Pai settled out of court for $ 31.5 million. In October 2000, Daniel Scotto , the most renowned utility analyst on Wall Street, suspended his ratings on all energy companies conducting business in California because of the possibility that the companies would not receive full and adequate compensation for

404-403: A 1,380 miles (2,220 km) fiber optic network between Portland and Las Vegas. In 1998, Enron constructed a building in a rundown area of Las Vegas near E Sahara, right over the "backbone" of fiber optic cables providing service to technology companies nationwide. The location had the ability to send "the entire Library of Congress anywhere in the world within minutes" and could stream "video to

505-497: A 3-year stint with initial success, but ultimately, a big dip in earnings led to his exit. In 1984, Kenneth Lay succeeded Matthews and inherited the troubled conglomerate. With its conservative success, InterNorth became a target of corporate takeovers, the most prominent originating with Irwin Jacobs. InterNorth CEO Sam Segnar sought a friendly merger with HNG. In May 1985, Internorth acquired HNG for $ 2.3 billion, 40% higher than

606-409: A Climate and Economic Renewal Investment Plan. In 2006, Corporate Knights put forth a $ 100 billion carbon pricing plan for Canada to reach its Kyoto target, convening the first Energy Ministers' meeting on building a trans-canadian grid for transporting green electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed, In 2007, Corporate Knights helped put together a working group to explore

707-581: A Dutch investigative journalism platform, Follow the Money , published an article about Patagonia's use of the same factories that fast-fashion brands use such as Decathlon and Primark . Workers in these factories work in far worse conditions than the standard that Patagonia publicly set. In the MAS Holdings factories in Sri Lanka, it is not uncommon for them to work shifts of 14 hours. Patagonia uses

808-484: A Green Power Corridor transmission grid to enable the decarbonization of Canada's electricity supply. Option13, launched in 2008, to promote a unified price on carbon in the face of climate change. Ralph Nader and Corporate Knights' Toby Heaps published an article about it in The Wall Street Journal . In 2010, Corporate Knights supported Bill C-300 and testimony was given by Toby Heaps to support

909-575: A common business practice in the energy industry. However, it also allowed Enron to transfer some of its liabilities off its books, allowing it to maintain a robust and generally increasing stock price and thus keep its critical investment-grade credit ratings. Enron was originally involved in transmitting and distributing electricity and natural gas throughout the US. The company developed, built, and operated power plants and pipelines while dealing with rules of law and other infrastructures worldwide. Enron owned

1010-445: A dangerous spiral in which, each quarter, corporate officers would have to perform more and more financial deception to create the illusion of billions of dollars in profit while the company was actually losing money. This practice increased their stock price to new levels, at which point the executives began to work on insider information and trade millions of dollars worth of Enron stock. The executives and insiders at Enron knew about

1111-465: A financial "pyramid" or " Ponzi scheme "). Attempting to maintain the illusion, Skilling verbally attacked Wall Street analyst Richard Grubman , who questioned Enron's unusual accounting practice during a recorded conference telephone call. When Grubman complained that Enron was the only company that could not release a balance sheet along with its earnings statements, Skilling replied, "Well, thank you very much, we appreciate that ... asshole." Though

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1212-514: A hostile takeover of Crouse-Hinds Company , an electrical products manufacturer. Cooper and InterNorth feuded in numerous suits during the takeover that were eventually settled after the transaction was completed. The subsidiary Northern Natural Gas operated the largest pipeline company in North America. By the 1980s, InterNorth became a major force for natural gas production, transmission, and marketing as well as for natural gas liquids , and

1313-558: A large network of natural gas pipelines, which stretched coast to coast and border to border including Northern Natural Gas, Florida Gas Transmission , Transwestern Pipeline Company, and a partnership in Northern Border Pipeline from Canada. The states of California, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island had already passed power deregulation laws by July 1996, the time of Enron's proposal to acquire Portland General Electric corporation. During 1998, Enron began operations in

1414-421: A meeting with employees on February 14, 1986, Lay announced his interest in this name change, which would be held to a stockholder vote on April 10. Less than a month from this meeting, on March 7, 1986, a spokesman for HNG/InterNorth rescinded the planned Enteron proposal, as since its announcement the name had come under scrutiny for being the same as a medical term for the intestines . This same press release saw

1515-733: A method developed by the Anker Research Institute to determine the height of a livable wage. In these factories in Sri Lanka, the workers get paid less than half of this wage. According to Patagonia, they have no control over the wages and conditions in the factories, as they do not own them. In 2012, Patagonia created a new division called Patagonia Provisions to produce food products. This began with packaged salmon, but then expanded to tinned fish , dried fruits, jerkies, and other packaged goods popular with outdoors enthusiasts. Since 1985, Patagonia has committed 1% of its total sales to environmental groups through One Percent for

1616-422: A plunge following its earnings report, Mark resigned from Azurix and Enron. Azurix assets, including Wessex, were eventually sold by Enron. In 1990, Enron's chief operating officer Jeffrey Skilling hired Andrew Fastow, who was well acquainted with the burgeoning deregulated energy market that Skilling wanted to exploit. In 1993, Fastow began establishing numerous limited liability special-purpose entities ,

1717-413: A result of a poorly designed market system that was manipulated by traders and marketers, as well as from poor state management and regulatory oversight. Subsequently, Enron traders were revealed as intentionally encouraging the removal of power from the market during California's energy crisis by encouraging suppliers to shut down plants to perform unnecessary maintenance, as documented in recordings made at

1818-404: A scene of an Enron-themed amusement park ride. The 2007 film Bee Movie also featured a joke reference to a parody company of Enron called "Honron" (a play on the words honey and Enron). The 2003 documentary The Corporation made frequent references to Enron post-bankruptcy, calling the company a "bad apple". In August 2000, Enron's stock price attained its greatest value, closing at $ 90 on

1919-574: A share. She sold that stock for $ 49.77 a share in July 2001, a week before the public was told what she already knew about the $ 102 million loss. In 2002, after the tumultuous fall of Enron's external auditor, and management consultant, Andersen LLP, former Andersen Director, John M. Cunningham coined the phrase, "We have all been Enroned." The fallout resulted in both Lay and Skilling being convicted of conspiracy, fraud, and insider trading. Lay died before sentencing, Skilling got 24 years and 4 months and

2020-998: A sustainable economy. It is distributed in The Globe and Mail , The Washington Post , and The Wall Street Journal . In 2012, Corporate Knights was named "Magazine of the Year" by the National Media Awards Foundation. In 2019, following the publication of "The high cost of low corporate taxes" by Marco Chown Oved, Toby Heaps, and Michael Yow, Corporate Knights was awarded the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing ( SABEW ) Canada Silver Award for Investigative Reporting. The Corporate Knights research division produces global sustainability rankings, research reports and financial product ratings based on corporate sustainability performance. Corporate Knights publishes upwards of 10 annual rankings, including

2121-479: Is a list of the fastest growing private and publicly traded Canadian companies whose business activities align with the transition to a global clean economy. In 2022, Alberta-based Eavor Technologies was the top-ranking private company and Ontario-based Next Hydrogen Solutions was the top-ranking publicly-traded company. The Corporate Knights EARTH INDEX is a measurement of the speed at which countries (by sector)] are reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to

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2222-577: Is cleaned, repaired and sold on its "Worn Wear" website. In 2019, it launched a program named ReCrafted that creates and sells clothing made from scraps of fabric coming from used Patagonia gear. The program promotes longer life spans for their clothing by providing sewing videos and/or the help of professionals via events in both the United States and Europe. As of 2019, the firm aims to become carbon neutral by 2025. Patagonia provides lifetime product guarantees and offers repairs. It also uses

2323-692: Is involved in several litigations against the government of Argentina claiming compensation relating to the negligence and corruption of the local governance during its management of the Buenos Aires water concession in 1999, which resulted in substantial amounts of debt (approx. $ 620 million) and the eventual collapse of the branch. Soon after emerging from bankruptcy in November 2004, Enron's new board of directors sued 11 financial institutions for helping Lay, Fastow, Skilling, and others hide Enron's true financial condition. The proceedings were dubbed

2424-516: The Antiquities Act of 1906 , it did not give any president the power to reverse a prior president's monument designations. In July 2020, Patagonia suspended its advertising on Facebook and Facebook's photo-sharing app, Instagram , as part of the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign, which some U.S. civil rights organizations launched because they believed the social networking company was doing too little to curb hate speech on its sites. In

2525-525: The Enron scandal . Enron has become synonymous with willful corporate fraud and corruption . The scandal also brought into question the accounting practices and activities of many corporations in the United States and was a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 . The scandal also affected the greater business world by causing, together with even larger fraudulent bankruptcy WorldCom ,

2626-860: The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World , released each year in Davos during the World Economic Forum , and the Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada.   Since 2005, the Global 100 has looked to emphasize the impact of a company's core products and services. It is the best-performing global sustainability index (CKG100), with more than 10 years of history. Gartner's Market Guide for Corporate ESG Ratings and Research (June 2022) stated that among

2727-822: The Natural Resources Defense Council ; Phil Radford , executive director of Greenpeace USA ; Michael Brune , executive director of the Sierra Club ; Carter Roberts, CEO of WWF -US; Mark Tercek , CEO of The Nature Conservancy ; Robert Engelman , president of the Worldwatch Institute ; Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth ; Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists ; Van Jones , president of Rebuild

2828-870: The Supreme Court , the damage to the Andersen name has prevented it from recovering or reviving itself as a viable business even on a limited scale. Enron also withdrew a naming-rights deal with the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club for its new stadium, which was known formerly as Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park ). Enron used a variety of deceptive and fraudulent tactics and accounting practices to cover its fraud in reporting Enron's financial information. Special-purpose entities were created to mask significant liabilities from Enron's financial statements. These entities made Enron seem more profitable than it was, and created

2929-690: The United States Government and President Donald Trump for his proclamations of reducing the protected land of Bears Ears National Monument by 85% and the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument by almost 50%. Patagonia sued over the interpretation of the Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution in which the country vests Congress with the power to manage federal lands. The company's then-CEO, Rose Marcario, contends that when Congress passed

3030-693: The water sector , creating the Azurix Corporation, which it part-floated on the New York Stock Exchange during June 1999. Azurix failed to become successful in the water utility market, and one of its major concessions, in Buenos Aires , was a large-scale money-loser. Enron grew wealthy due largely to marketing, promoting power, and having a high stock price. Enron was named "America's Most Innovative Company" by Fortune for six consecutive years, from 1996 to 2001. It

3131-699: The "megaclaims litigation". Among the defendants were Royal Bank of Scotland , Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. As of 2008 , Enron has settled with all of the institutions, ending with Citigroup. Enron was able to obtain nearly $ 7.2 billion to distribute to its creditors as a result of the megaclaims litigation. As of December 2009, some claim and process payments were still being distributed. Enron has been featured since its bankruptcy in popular culture, including in The Simpsons episodes That '90s Show (Homer buys Enron stock while Marge chooses to keep her own Microsoft shares) and Special Edna , which features

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3232-594: The $ 10 million it received from President Trump's 2017 tax cuts to "groups committed to protecting air, land and water and finding solutions to the climate crisis ." In February 2017, Patagonia led a boycott of the Outdoor Retailer trade show, which traditionally took place in Salt Lake City, Utah , because of the Utah state legislature's introduction of legislation that would transfer federal lands to

3333-409: The 23rd. At this time, Enron executives, who possessed inside information on the hidden losses, began to sell their stock. At the same time, the general public and Enron's investors were told to buy the stock. Executives told the investors that the stock would continue to increase until it attained possibly the $ 130 to $ 140 range, while secretly unloading their shares. As executives sold their shares,

3434-612: The Climate" with David Suzuki and Margaret Atwood . Corporate Knights has undertaken research model investment pathways for Canada to achieve its climate goals in a way that boosts the economy, including the Build Back Better Synthesis Report, which was backed in a letter signed by many Canadian business leaders and made into a short video. The analysis and data were also used to underpin a Citizen's Budget. Corporate Knights updated this work in 2022 with

3535-737: The Dream ; Bill McKibben , founder of 350.org ; Joe Romm , publisher of Climate Progress; and Ralph Nader , founder of Public Citizen . Corporate Knights worked with the United Nations’ Inquiry into a Sustainable Financial System to co-author A Review of International Financial Standards as they Relate to Sustainable Development . Corporate Knights also led a report with the United Nations Environment Programme . The report, Financial Centres for Sustainability: Reviewing Experience and Identifying Options in

3636-605: The Enron Finance Corp. and headed by Skilling. With the success of the Gas Bank trading natural gas, Skilling looked to expand the horizons of his division, Enron Capital & Trade. Skilling hired Andrew Fastow in 1990 to help. Starting in 1994 under the Energy Policy Act of 1992 , Congress allowed states to deregulate their electricity utilities, allowing them to be opened for competition. California

3737-505: The Enron Gas Pipeline Operating Company. In addition, it ramped up its electric power and natural gas efforts. In 1988 and 1989, the company added power plants and cogeneration units to its portfolio. In 1989, Jeffrey Skilling , then a consultant at McKinsey & Company , came up with the idea to link natural gas to consumers in more ways, effectively turning natural gas into a commodity. Enron adopted

3838-683: The G7 , was commissioned by Italy’s ministry of the environment (MATTM) as part of Italy’s G7 Presidency that year. During the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Corporate Knights hosts the Global 100 Davos Dinner and announces the year's most sustainable companies. The Annual Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada are announced each summer at a gala in Toronto. Awards of distinction are also presented at this event. Corporate Knights frequently hosts virtual events, such as "Fireside Stories for

3939-576: The Patagonia Purpose Trust, a trust overseen by the Chouinard family and advisors. Chouinard's stated goal was for profits to be used to address climate change and protect land. All nonvoting stock was transferred to Holdfast Collective, a 501(c)(4) organization . The move allows Chouinard to avoid taxation on the gift of the nonvoting shares since it was to a nonprofit holding company, while effectively maintaining control of

4040-488: The Planet , an organization of which Yvon Chouinard was a founding member. It has also used advertising campaigns to draw attention to the environmental impact of fashion , offers repairs on old products, and offers recycling or swapping . In 2016, Patagonia pledged to contribute 100% of sales from Black Friday to environmental organizations, totaling $ 10 million. In June 2018, the company announced that it would donate

4141-550: The Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron . Additionally, British water regulators required Wessex to cut its rates by 12% starting in April 2000, and an upgrade was required of the utility's aging infrastructure, estimated at costing over a billion dollars. By the end of 2000 Azurix had an operating profit of less than $ 100 million and was $ 2 billion in debt. In August 2000, after Azurix stock took

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4242-658: The announcement "as they did with most things Internet-related at the time", with stock prices rising from $ 40 per share in January 2000 to $ 70 per share in March, peaking at $ 90 in the summer of 2000. Enron executives obtained windfall gains from the rising stock prices, with a total of $ 924 million of stocks sold by high-level Enron employees between 2000 and 2001. The head of Enron Broadband Services, Kenneth Rice, sold 1 million shares himself, earning about $ 70 million in returns. As prices of existing fiber optic cables plummeted due to

4343-409: The bankruptcy of Enron, telecommunications holdings were sold for "pennies on the dollar". In 2002, Rob Roy of Switch Communications purchased Enron's Nevada facility in an auction attended only by Roy. Enron's "fiber plans were so secretive that few people even knew about the auction." The facility was sold for only $ 930,000. Following the sale, Switch expanded to control "the biggest data center in

4444-747: The business case for ethical mining. On November 8 2022, at COP27 in Egypt, Corporate Knights launched the Action Declaration on Climate Policy Engagement. Signatories include more than 50 corporations. Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy , commodities , and services company based in Houston, Texas . It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth , both relatively small regional companies. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 20,600 staff and

4545-570: The cheap supply of labor during the Great Depression helped to fuel the company's early beginnings, doubling in size by 1932. Over the next 50 years, Northern expanded even more as it acquired many energy companies. It was reorganized in 1979 as the main subsidiary of a holding company , InterNorth, a diversified energy and energy-related products firm. Although most of the acquisitions conducted were successful, some ended poorly. InterNorth competed with Cooper Industries unsuccessfully over

4646-649: The comment was met with dismay and astonishment by press, Wall Street analysts and public, it became an inside joke among many Enron employees, mocking Grubman for his perceived meddling rather than Skilling's offensiveness. Enron initially planned to retain its three domestic pipeline companies as well as most of its overseas assets. However, before emerging from bankruptcy, Enron sold its domestic pipeline companies as CrossCountry Energy for $ 2.45 billion and later sold other assets to Vulcan Capital Management . Enron sold its last business, Prisma Energy , during 2006, leaving Enron asset-less. During early 2007, its name

4747-455: The company ended its retail endeavor in 1999 as it was revealed it was costing upwards of $ 100 million a year. As fiber optic technology progressed in the 1990s, multiple companies, including Enron, attempted to make money by "keeping the continuing network costs low", which was done by owning their own network. In 1997, FTV Communications LLC, a limited liability company formed by Enron subsidiary FirstPoint Communications, Inc., constructed

4848-457: The company made money and questioning whether Enron stock was overvalued. By August 15, 2001, Enron's stock price had decreased to $ 42. Many of the investors still trusted Lay and believed that Enron would rule the market. They continued to buy or retain their stock as the equity value decreased. As October ended, the stock had decreased to $ 15. Many considered this a great opportunity to buy Enron stock because of what Lay had been telling them in

4949-619: The company took advantage of the unregulated Texas natural gas market and the commodity surge in the early 1970s to become a dominant force in the energy industry. Toward the end of the 1970s, HNG's luck began to run out with rising gas prices forcing clients to switch to oil. In addition, with the passing of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 , the Texas market was less profitable and as a result, HNG's profits fell. After Herring died in 1981, M.D. Matthews briefly took over as CEO in

5050-695: The company via the affiliated trust's ownership of the voting stock. A gift tax of $ 17 million was assessed on the transfer of the voting stock. In 2007 and 2011, internal audits revealed that factories in Patagonia's production supply chain in Taiwan were involved in human trafficking , leading to company efforts to address the labor abuses. It was found in 2011 that Patagonia used unnatural water repellants to make their outerwear able to repel water effectively. These repellants have been found to be carcinogenic, however Patagonia continued to use them. Since this

5151-475: The company's fiscal health became secondary to manipulating its stock price during the so-called Tech boom . But when a company's success is measured by undocumented financial statements, actual balance sheets are inconvenient. Indeed, Enron's unscrupulous actions were often gambles to keep the deception going and so increase the stock price. An advancing price meant a continued infusion of investor capital on which debt-ridden Enron in large part subsisted (much like

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5252-494: The company's success story was Daniel Scotto , an energy market expert at BNP Paribas , who issued a note in August 2001 entitled Enron: All stressed up and no place to go which encouraged investors to sell Enron stocks, although he only changed his recommendation on the stock from "buy" to "neutral". As was later discovered, many of Enron's recorded assets and profits were inflated, wholly fraudulent, or nonexistent. One example

5353-528: The council's work possible. Launched in June 2022, the Sustainable Cities Index is an interactive, crowd-sourced sustainability index for cities. To rank cities, Corporate Knights leveraged 12 key indicators of urban sustainability related to climate change, air quality, land use, transportation, water, waste, policy, and resilience. Stockholm was the top scoring city in 2022. The Future 50

5454-495: The creation of the Council for Clean Capitalism, a multi-industry group of leading Canadian companies dedicated to advocating for economic and social-policy changes that reward responsible corporate behavior and remove barriers to clean capitalism. The council's 10 members include Sun Life Financial , Vancity , Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions Canada and Teck Resources . Corporate Knights provides secretariat support to make

5555-409: The current market price, and on July 16, 1985, the two entities voted to merge. The combined assets of the two companies created the second largest gas pipeline system in the US at that time. Internorth's north–south pipelines that served Iowa and Minnesota complemented HNG's Florida and California east-west pipelines well. The company was initially named HNG/InterNorth Inc. , even though InterNorth

5656-488: The deal and dismissed their CEO, Chuck Watson. The new chairman and CEO, the late Daniel Dienstbier, had been president of NNG and an Enron executive at one time and was forced out by Ken Lay. Dienstbier was an acquaintance of Warren Buffett. NNG continues to be profitable now. In 2001, after a series of revelations involving irregular accounting procedures perpetrated throughout the 1990s involving Enron and its auditor Arthur Andersen that bordered on fraud, Enron filed for

5757-668: The deferred energy accounts used as the basis for the California Deregulation Plan enacted during the late 1990s. Five months later, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) was forced into bankruptcy. Republican Senator Phil Gramm , husband of Enron Board member Wendy Gramm and also the second-largest recipient of campaign contributions from Enron, succeeded in legislating California's energy commodity trading deregulation. Despite warnings from prominent consumer groups which stated that this law would give energy traders too much influence over energy commodity prices,

5858-650: The dissolution of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, which had been Enron and WorldCom's main auditor for years. Enron filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York in late 2001 and selected Weil, Gotshal & Manges as its bankruptcy counsel. Enron emerged from bankruptcy in November 2004, under a court-approved plan of reorganization. A new board of directors changed its name to Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. , and emphasized reorganizing and liquidating certain operations and assets of

5959-597: The extent of paid sick leave policies in the largest companies across North America and the world in the wake of COVID-19.   In 2020, Corporate Knights launched an open-nomination process to determine which corporate actions have had the biggest impact on improving the state of affairs on our planet. After reviewing a shortlist of 150 companies, four judges voted on their top 50 picks. Judges included Pierre Lussier, director of Earth Day Canada, John Oppermann, executive director of Earth Day Initiative, Adria Vasil, managing editor of Corporate Knights and Toby Heaps. Patagonia

6060-450: The foundation. Records show that Mrs. Lay made the sale order sometime between 10:00 and 10:20 am. News of Enron's problems, including the millions of dollars in losses they hid, became public about 10:30 that morning, and the stock price soon decreased to less than one dollar. Former Enron executive Paula Rieker was charged with criminal insider trading and sentenced to two years probation. Rieker obtained 18,380 Enron shares for $ 15.51

6161-632: The growing supply and demand issue he faced. In 1970, Chouinard obtained rugby shirts from Scotland that he wore while climbing because the collar kept the climbing sling from hurting his neck. Great Pacific Iron Works, Patagonia's first store, opened in 1973 in the former Hobson meat-packing plant at Santa Clara St. in Ventura, near Chouinard's blacksmith shop. In 1981, Patagonia and Chouinard Equipment were incorporated within Great Pacific Iron Works. In 1984, Chouinard changed

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6262-624: The idea and called it the "Gas Bank". The division's success prompted Skilling to join Enron as the head of the Gas Bank in 1991. Another major development inside Enron was a pivot to overseas operations with a $ 56 million loan in 1989 from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) for a power plant in Argentina. Throughout the 1990s, Enron made a few changes to its business plan that greatly improved

6363-439: The internet." Enron sought to have all US internet service providers rely on their Nevada facility to supply bandwidth, which Enron would sell in a fashion similar to other commodities. In January 2000, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling announced to analysts that they were going to open trading for their own "high-speed fiber-optic networks that form the backbone for Internet traffic". Investors quickly bought Enron stock following

6464-421: The introduction of the Enron name, which would be the new name voted on come April. Enron still had some lingering problems left over from its merger, however, the company had to pay Jacobs, who was still a threat, over $ 350 million and reorganize the company. Lay sold off any parts of the company that he believed didn't belong in the long-term future of Enron. Lay consolidated all the gas pipeline efforts under

6565-461: The largest source of honest income, the 1930s-era Northern Natural Gas company, was eventually purchased by a group of Omaha investors who relocated its headquarters to their city; it is now a unit of Warren Buffett 's Berkshire Hathaway Energy . NNG was established as collateral for a $ 2.5 billion capital infusion by Dynegy Corporation when Dynegy was planning to buy Enron. When Dynegy examined Enron's financial records carefully, they repudiated

6666-943: The lawsuit, fought the release of the documents that the PUD had sought to make its case, but were being withheld by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission . Patagonia, Inc. Patagonia, Inc. is an American retailer of outdoor recreation clothing, equipment, and food. It was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973 and is based in Ventura, California . Patagonia operates stores in more than 10 countries globally, as well as factories in 16 countries. Yvon Chouinard, an accomplished rock climber, began selling hand-forged mountain climbing gear in 1957 through his company Chouinard Equipment. He worked alone selling his gear until 1965, when he partnered with Tom Frost in order to improve his products and address

6767-552: The legislation was passed in December 2000. As the periodical Public Citizen reported: Because of Enron's new, unregulated power auction, the company's "Wholesale Services'' revenues quadrupled – from $ 12 billion in the first quarter of 2000 to $ 48.4 billion in the first quarter of 2001. After the passage of the deregulation law, California had a total of 38 Stage 3 rolling blackouts declared, until federal regulators intervened in June 2001. These blackouts occurred as

6868-1200: The main ESG research data providers, "Corporate Knights is the only provider to track the 'clean CapEx', clean R&D', and 'clean acquisitions' against a common taxonomy." Corporate Knights also acts as a research partner to the Sustainable Markets Initiative for the Terra Carta Seal , awarded to global companies that are leaders on sustainability and have credible net-zero plans, that was launched in 2021 by HRH The Prince of Wales at COP26 in Glasgow. Corporate Knights rankings are regularly cited in leading business publications, including Fast Company , The Financial Times , and Forbes . Corporate Knights’ Sustainable Economy Intelligence tracks corporate decarbonization efforts globally. Its research offers three-year trend analyses on sustainable revenue, sustainable investment, executive compensation alignment and related operational metrics.     In 2012, Corporate Knights Inc. spearheaded

6969-493: The media. Lay was accused of selling more than $ 70 million worth of stock at this time, which he used to repay cash advances on lines of credit. He sold another $ 29 million worth of stock in the open market. Also, Lay's wife, Linda, was accused of selling 500,000 shares of Enron stock totaling $ 1.2 million on November 28, 2001. The money earned from this sale did not go to the family but rather to charitable organizations, which had already received pledges of contributions from

7070-842: The name of Great Pacific Iron Works to Lost Arrow Corporation. Patagonia has expanded its product line to include apparel targeted towards other sports, such as surfing. In addition to clothing, they offer other related products, including camping food . Its profits grew to $ 750m by 2015. By the late 2010s, branded Patagonia fleece vests became known for their use by financial executives, and in 2019, Patagonia announced that its distribution of branded products would focus on firms committed to environmental, social, and corporate governance initiatives. In September 2020, Patagonia announced that Rose Marcario would step down as its chief executive officer and be succeeded by Ryan Gellert. In September 2022, Chouinard transferred ownership of Patagonia (all of its voting stock , about 2% of total stock) to

7171-484: The offshore accounts that were hiding losses for the company; the investors, however, did not. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow directed the team that created the off-books companies and manipulated the deals to provide himself, his family, and his friends with hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed revenue, at the expense of the corporation for which he worked and its stockholders. In 1999, Enron initiated EnronOnline, an Internet-based trading operation, which

7272-608: The one who couldn't figure out how to f**king vote on the butterfly ballot ." (Laughing from both sides.) "Yeah, now she wants her f**king money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her a** for f**king $ 250 a megawatt-hour." The traders had been discussing the efforts of the Snohomish PUD in Northwestern Washington state to recover the massive overcharges that Enron had engineered. Morgan Stanley , which had taken Enron's place in

7373-405: The perceived profitability of the company. First, Enron invested heavily in overseas assets, specifically energy. Another major shift was the gradual transition of focus from a producer of energy to a company that acted more like an investment firm and sometimes a hedge fund , making profits off the margins of the products it traded. These products were traded through the Gas Bank concept, now called

7474-482: The pre-bankruptcy Enron. On September 7, 2006, Enron sold its last remaining subsidiary, Prisma Energy International , to Ashmore Energy International Ltd. (now AEI). It is the largest bankruptcy due specifically to fraud in United States history. One of Enron's primary predecessors was InterNorth , which was formed in 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska , just a few months after Black Tuesday . The low cost of natural gas and

7575-548: The price began to decrease. Investors were told to continue buying stock or hold steady if they already owned Enron because the stock price would rebound shortly. Kenneth Lay's strategy for responding to Enron's continuing problems was his demeanor. As he did many times, Lay would issue a statement or make an appearance to calm investors and assure them that Enron was doing well. In March 2001 an article by Bethany McLean appeared in Fortune magazine noting that no one understood how

7676-527: The scandal caused the dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which at the time was one of the Big Five of the world's accounting firms. The company was found guilty of obstruction of justice in 2002 for destroying documents related to the Enron audit. Since the SEC is not allowed to accept audits from convicted felons, Andersen was forced to stop auditing public companies. Although the conviction was dismissed in 2005 by

7777-420: The speed required to deliver on their commitments. Ranking mutual funds and ETFs based on their financial and sustainability performance and ESG-aligned management commitments, Corporate Knights publishes an annual list of top responsible funds for the planet. The Better World MBA is an annual ranking of the world's most sustainable MBA programs. The Corporate Knights Paid Sick Leave Provision project assessed

7878-579: The state. Patagonia opposed then Utah Governor Gary Herbert 's request that the Trump administration revoke the recently designated Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. After several companies joined the Patagonia-led boycott, event organizer Emerald Expositions said it would not accept a proposal from Utah to continue hosting the Outdoor Retailer trade show and would instead move the event to another state. On December 6, 2017, Patagonia sued

7979-584: The success in England, the company developed and diversified its assets worldwide under the name of Enron International (EI), headed by former HNG executive Rebecca Mark . By 1994, EI's portfolio included assets in The Philippines, Australia, Guatemala, Germany, France, India, Argentina, the Caribbean, China, England, Colombia, Turkey, Bolivia, Brazil, Indonesia, Norway, Poland, and Japan. The division

8080-412: The term "clean capitalism". Corporate Knights looks to highlight regional and national opportunities for the clean energy transition by acting as an advisor to corporations, governments and people working toward a more sustainable economy. Corporate Knights is published quarterly and maintains an editorial focus on climate change, responsible investing, and the ideas, actions and innovations that shape

8181-647: The then largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in history (since surpassed by those of Worldcom during 2002 and Lehman Brothers during 2008), resulting in $ 11 billion in shareholder losses. As the scandal progressed, Enron share prices decreased from US$ 90 during the summer of 2000, to just pennies. Enron's demise occurred after the revelation that much of its profit and revenue were the result of deals with special-purpose entities ( limited partnerships which it controlled). This maneuver allowed many of Enron's debts and losses to disappear from its financial statements. Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001. In addition,

8282-405: The time. These acts contributed to the need for rolling blackouts, which adversely affected many businesses dependent upon a reliable supply of electricity, and inconvenienced a large number of retail customers. This scattered supply increased the price, and Enron traders were thus able to sell power at premium prices, sometimes up to a factor of 20 × its normal peak value. The callousness of

8383-484: The traders' attitude toward ratepayers was documented in an evidence tape of a conversation regarding the matter, and sarcastically referencing the confusion of retiree voters in Florida's Miami-Dade County in the November 2000, presidential election. "They're f**king taking all the money back from you guys? All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?" "Yeah, Grandma Millie man. But she's

8484-418: The two companies agreed to give billions of dollars to Enron's creditors. By May 2011, $ 21.8 billion had been distributed to the creditors, totaling 53 percent of Enron's debts at the time of bankruptcy. Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation was ultimately dissolved on November 28, 2016. Azurix, the former water utility part of the company, remains under Enron ownership, although it is currently asset-less. It

8585-595: The vast oversupply of the system, with only 5% of the 40 million miles being active wires, Enron purchased the inactive "dark fibers", expecting to buy them at low cost and then make a profit as the need for more usage by internet providers increased, with Enron expecting to lease its acquired dark fibers in 20-year contracts to providers. However, Enron's accounting would use estimates to determine how much their dark fiber would be worth when "lit" and apply those estimates to their current income, adding exaggerated revenue to their accounts since transactions were not yet made and it

8686-559: The whole state of California". The location was also more protected from natural disasters than areas such as Los Angeles or the East Coast. According to Wall Street Daily , "Enron had a secret", it "wanted to trade bandwidth like it traded oil, gas, electricity, etc. It launched a secret plan to build an enormous amount of fiber optic transmission capacity in Las Vegas ;... it was all part of Enron's plan to essentially own

8787-476: The world". Enron, seeing stability after the merger, began to look overseas for new possible energy opportunities in 1991. Enron's first such opportunity was a natural gas power plant utilizing cogeneration that the company built near Middlesbrough , UK. The power plant was so large it could produce up to 3% of the United Kingdom's electricity demand with a capacity of over 1,875 megawatts . Seeing

8888-427: Was a major electricity , natural gas , communications, and pulp and paper company, with claimed revenues of nearly $ 101 billion during 2000. Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years. At the end of 2001, it was revealed that Enron's reported financial condition was sustained by an institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud , known since as

8989-639: Was an innovator in the plastics industry . In 1983, InterNorth merged with the Belco Petroleum Company, a Fortune 500 oil exploration and development company founded by Arthur Belfer . The Houston Natural Gas (HNG) corporation was initially formed from the Houston Oil Co. in 1925 to provide gas to customers in the Houston market through the building of gas pipelines . Under the leadership of CEO Robert Herring from 1967 to 1981,

9090-423: Was canceled, with Enron shares dropping from $ 80 per share in mid-February 2001 to below $ 60 the week after the deal was killed. The branch of the company that Jeffrey Skilling "said would eventually add $ 40 billion to Enron's stock value" added only about $ 408 million in revenue for Enron in 2001, with the company's broadband arm closed shortly after its meager second-quarter earnings report in July 2001. Following

9191-418: Was changed to Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation. Its goal is to repay the old Enron's remaining creditors and end Enron's affairs. In December 2008, it was announced that Enron's creditors would receive $ 7.2 billion from the company's liquidation (approximately 17 percent of the debts owed by the company). After Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase were sued for their role in abetting Enron's practices with loans,

9292-496: Was found Patagonia has now changed what they use as water repellants, now finding only trace amounts of the carcinogens. In June 2016, Patagonia released a set of principles for the treatment of animals used to manufacture wool garments, as well as land-use practices and sustainability . In 2017, Patagonia created a trade-in and exchange program called Worn Wear. Through this program, merchandise in good condition can be returned for new merchandise credits. The used merchandise

9393-436: Was in 1999 when Enron promised to repay Merrill Lynch 's investment with interest to show a profit on its books. Debts and losses were put into entities formed offshore that were not included in the company's financial statements ; other sophisticated and arcane financial transactions between Enron and related companies were used to eliminate unprofitable entities from the company's books. The company's most valuable asset and

9494-486: Was not known if the cables would ever be active. Enron's trading with other energy companies within the broadband market was its attempt to lure large telecommunications companies, such as Verizon Communications , into its broadband scheme to create its own new market. By the second quarter of 2001, Enron Broadband Services was reporting losses. On March 12, 2001, a proposed 20-year deal between Enron and Blockbuster Inc. to stream movies on demand over Enron's connections

9595-469: Was on the Fortune ' s "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" list during 2000, and had offices that were stunning in their opulence. Enron was hailed by many, including labor and the workforce, as an overall great company, praised for its large long-term pensions, benefits for its workers, and extremely effective management until the exposure of its corporate fraud. The first analyst to question

9696-533: Was one of the final projects of legendary graphic designer Paul Rand before his death in 1996, and debuted almost three months after his departure. In 1998, Enron International acquired Wessex Water for $ 2.88 billion. Wessex Water became the core asset of a new company, Azurix , which expanded to other water companies. After Azurix's promising IPO in June 1999, Enron "sucked out over $ 1 billion in cash while loading it up with debt", according to Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, authors of The Smartest Guys in

9797-639: Was one such state to do so. Enron, seeing an opportunity with rising prices, was eager to jump into the market. In 1997, Enron acquired Portland General Electric (PGE). Although an Oregon utility, it had the potential to begin serving the massive California market since PGE was a regulated utility. The new Enron division, Enron Energy, ramped up its efforts by offering discounts to potential customers in California starting in 1998. Enron Energy also began to sell natural gas to customers in Ohio and wind power in Iowa. However,

9898-434: Was producing a large share of earnings for Enron, contributing 25% of earnings in 1996. Mark and EI believed the water industry was the next market to be deregulated by authorities. Seeing the potential, they searched for ways to enter the market, similar to PGE. During this period of growth, Enron introduced a new corporate identity on January 14, 1997, and from that point adopted their distinctive tricolor E logo. This logo

9999-475: Was technically the parent. At the outset, Segnar was CEO but was soon fired by the board of directors to name Lay to the post. Lay moved its headquarters back to Houston and set out to find a new name, spending more than $ 100,000 in focus groups and consultants in the process. Lippincott & Margulies , the advertising firm responsible for the InterNorth identity five years prior, suggested "Enteron". During

10100-602: Was used by virtually every energy company in the United States. By promoting the company's aggressive investment strategy, Enron's president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Skilling helped make Enron the biggest wholesaler of gas and electricity, trading over $ 27 billion per quarter. The corporation's financial claims, however, had to be accepted at face value. Under Skilling, Enron adopted mark-to-market accounting , in which anticipated future profits from any deal were tabulated as if currently real. Thus, Enron could record gains from what over time might turn out to be losses, as

10201-474: Was voted as the top green company. Speaking to the tradition of environmental protection in the White House, Corporate Knights named Theodore Roosevelt as the greenest president in U.S. history, followed by Richard Nixon . The selection was determined by a committee of leading environmentalists. Twelve individuals led their respective group's participation in the survey: Frances Beinecke , president of

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