Power Failure
The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron
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Narrated by:
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Karen White
About this listen
“They’re still trying to hide the weenie,” thought Sherron Watkins as she read a newspaper clipping about Enron two weeks before Christmas, 2001. It quoted [CFO] Jeff McMahon addressing the company’s creditors and cautioning them against a rash judgment.
“Don’t assume that there is a smoking gun.” Sherron knew Enron well enough to know that the company was in extreme spin mode....
Power Failure is the electrifying behind-the-scenes story of the collapse of Enron, the high-flying gas and energy company touted as the poster child of the New Economy that, in its hubris, had aspired to be “The World’s Leading Company,” and had briefly been the seventh largest corporation in America.
Written by prizewinning journalist Mimi Swartz, and substantially based on the never-before-published revelations of former Enron vice-president Sherron Watkins, as well as hundreds of other interviews, Power Failure shows the human face beyond the greed, arrogance, and raw ambition that fueled the company’s meteoric rise in the late 1990s.
At the dawn of the new century, Ken Lay’s and Jeff Skilling's faces graced the covers of business magazines, and Enron’s money oiled the political machinery behind George W. Bush’s election campaign. But as Wall Street analysts sang Enron’s praises, and its stock spiraled dizzyingly into the stratosphere, the company’s leaders were madly scrambling to manufacture illusory profits, hide its ballooning debt, and bully Wall Street into buying its fictional accounting and off-balance-sheet investment vehicles.
The story of Enron’s fall is a morality tale writ large, performed on a stage with an unforgettable array of props and side plots, from parking lots overflowing with Boxsters and BMWs to hot-house office affairs and executive tantrums.
Among the cast of characters Mimi Swartz and Sherron Watkins observe with shrewd Texas eyes and an insider’s perspective are:
- CEO Ken Lay, Enron’s “outside face,” who was more interested in playing diplomat and paving the road to a political career than in managing Enron’s high-testosterone, anything-goes culture
- Jeff Skilling, the mastermind behind Enron’s mercenary trading culture, who transformed himself from a nerdy executive into the personification of millennial cool
- Rebecca Mark, the savvy and seductive head of Enron’s international division, who was Skilling’s sole rival to take over the company
- Andy Fastow, whose childish pranks early in his career gave way to something far more destructive. Desperate to be a player in Enron’s deal-making, trader-oriented culture, Fastow transformed Enron’s finance department into a “profit center,” creating a honeycomb of financial entities to bolster Enron’s “profits,” while diverting tens of millions of dollars into his own pockets
An unprecedented chronicle of Enron’s shocking collapse, Power Failure should take its place alongside the classics of previous decades - Barbarians at the Gate and Liar’s Poker - as one of the cautionary tales of our times.
©2003 MiMi Swartz (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The 1980s was the most outrageous and turbulent era in the financial market since the crash of ’29, not only on Wall Street but around the world. Michael Lewis, as a trainee at Salomon Brothers in New York and as an investment banker and later financial journalist, was uniquely positioned to chronicle the ambition and folly that fueled the decade. In these trenchant, often hilarious true tales we meet the colorful movers and shakers who commanded the headlines and rewrote the rules.
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Not the normal great Michael Lewis
- By Me on 05-12-12
By: Michael Lewis
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Tap Dancing to Work
- Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966–2012: A Fortune Magazine Book
- By: Carol J. Loomis
- Narrated by: Susan Boyce, Barry Press
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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When Carol Loomis first mentioned a little-known Omaha hedge-fund manager in a 1966 Fortune article, she didn’t dream that Warren Buffett would one day be considered the world’s greatest investor - nor that she and Buffett would become close personal friends. Now Loomis has collected and updated the best Buffett articles Fortune published between 1966 and 2012, including thirteen cover stories and a dozen pieces authored by Buffett himself. Loomis has provided commentary about each major article that supplies context and her own informed point of view.
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A collection of finance articles - not a biography
- By Gerardo A Dada on 08-23-13
By: Carol J. Loomis
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Conspiracy of Fools
- A True Story
- By: Kurt Eichenwald
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 30 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Say the name 'Enron' and most people believe they've heard all about the story that imperiled a presidency, destroyed a marketplace, and changed Washington and Wall Street forever. But in the hands of Kurt Eichenwald, the players we think we know and the business practices we think have been exposed are transformed into entirely new, and entirely gripping, material.
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Great Story
- By Adam M Pokorski on 06-06-06
By: Kurt Eichenwald
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The Greatest Trade Ever
- The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History
- By: Gregory Zuckerman
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2006, hedge fund manager John Paulson realized something few others suspected - that the housing market and the value of subprime mortgages were grossly inflated and headed for a major fall. Paulson's background was in mergers and acquisitions, however, and he knew little about real estate or how to wager against housing. He had spent a career as an also-ran on Wall Street. But Paulson was convinced this was his chance to make his mark. He just wasn't sure how to do it. Colleagues at investment banks scoffed at him and investors dismissed him.
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Better Books Now Available
- By David on 05-02-11
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The House of Dimon
- How JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Rose to the Top of the Financial World
- By: Patricia Crisafulli
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Jamie Dimon is Wall Street's biggest player. Following the 11h-hour rescue of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan, his profile has reached stratospheric levels. And while the deals and decisions he's made have usually turned out to be the right ones, his journey to the top of the financial world has been anything but easy. Now, in The House of Dimon, business writer Patricia Crisafulli goes behind the scenes to recount the amazing events that have shaped Dimon's career.
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Intriguing
- By Jean on 08-28-16
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The Frackers
- The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters
- By: Gregory Zuckerman
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone knew it was crazy to try to extract oil and natural gas buried in shale rock deep below the ground. Everyone, that is, except a few reckless wildcatters - who risked their careers to prove the world wrong. Things looked grim for American energy in 2006. Oil production was in steep decline and natural gas was hard to find. The Iraq War threatened the nation’s already tenuous relations with the Middle East. China was rapidly industrializing and competing for resources.
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Balanced approach on controversial topic
- By Chris on 01-02-14
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Barbarians at the Gate
- The Fall of RJR Nabisco
- By: Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
- Narrated by: Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
- Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
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Barbarians at the Gate has been called one of the most influential business books of all time, the definitive account of the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Bryan Burrough's and John Helyer's account of the frenzy that overtook Wall Street in October and November of 1988 gives us not only a detailed look at financial operations at the highest levels but a richly textured social history of wealth in the twilight of the Reagan era.
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Abridged and Poorly Read
- By Jake on 01-24-13
By: Bryan Burrough, and others
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Too Good to Be True
- The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff
- By: Erin Arvedlund
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Erin Arvedlund, the financial reporter who questioned the amazing returns of Bernie Madoff's hedge funds way back in 2001, traces the life of the infamous swindler and addresses the tough questions surrounding the collapse of his Ponzi scheme.
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Doesn't add much more that a lot of details.
- By Robert on 11-07-10
By: Erin Arvedlund
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The Asylum
- The Renegades Who Hijacked the World's Oil Market
- By: Leah McGrath Goodman
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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They were a band of outsiders unable to get jobs with New York's gilded financial establishment. They would go on to corner the world's multitrillion-dollar oil market, reaping unimaginable riches while bringing the economy to its knees. Meet the self-anointed kings of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In some ways, they are everything you would expect them to be: a secretive, members-only club of men and women who live lavish lifestyles; cavort with politicians, strippers, and celebrities; and blissfully jacked up oil prices to nearly $150 a barrel while profiting off the misery of the working class.
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A far better book than its come-on implies
- By Philo on 01-05-14
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The Firm
- The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American Business
- By: Duff McDonald
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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A behind-the-scenes, revelatory history of McKinsey & Company, America's most influential and controversial business consulting firm, told by one of the nation's leading financial journalists. In The Firm, Duff McDonald uncovers how these high-powered, high-priced business savants have ushered in waves of structural, financial, and technological shifts. With unrivaled access to company documents and current and former employees, McDonald reveals the inner workings of what just might be the most influential private organization in America.
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Warning: Non consultants should avoid
- By R. Jaeger on 11-04-13
By: Duff McDonald
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When Genius Failed
- The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
- By: Roger Lowenstein
- Narrated by: Roger Lowenstein
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
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Roger Lowenstein, the bestselling author of Buffett, captures Long-Term's roller-coaster ride in gripping detail. Drawing on confidential internal memos and interviews with dozens of key players, Lowenstein crafts a story that reads like a first-rate thriller from beginning to end. He explains not just how the fund made and lost its money, but what it was about the personalities of Long-Term's partners, the arrogance of their mathematical certainties, and the late-nineties culture of Wall Street that made it all possible.
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When Genius Failed
- By Sean on 12-17-08
By: Roger Lowenstein
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Finish Big
- How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top
- By: Bo Burlingham
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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When pioneering business journalist and Inc. magazine editor at large Bo Burlingham wrote Small Giants, it became an instant classic for its original take on a common business problem - how to handle the pressure to grow. Now Burlingham is back to tackle an even more common problem - how to exit your company well. Sooner or later, all entrepreneurs leave their businesses and all businesses get sold, given away, or liquidated.
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Begin with the end in mind
- By D. Hartzell on 02-05-15
By: Bo Burlingham
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Ahead of the Curve
- Two Years at Harvard Business School
- By: Philip Delves Broughton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2004 Philip Delves Broughton abandoned a post as Paris bureau chief of the London Daily Telegraph to join 900 other would-be tycoons on the Harvard Business School's plush campus. With acute and often uproarious candor, he assesses the school's success at teaching the traits it extols as most important in business: leadership, decisiveness, ethical behavior, and work/life balance.
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On one breath.
- By Atkins on 05-17-22
What listeners say about Power Failure
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Shirley A. Frye
- 02-11-05
A window into Corporate America
I really enjoyed this look into one of the biggest scandals of big business. While you may think a book about accounting rules would be quite dry it is anything but. The author does a great job of making the book interesting by making the core of the book a tale of the culture and personalities. Even the explanation of the accounting manipulations Enron cooked up were easily understood by the time you finished because they were explained in many different ways as the story transpires. It is pretty clear that while not all companies engage in such practices; the ethical lines are probably very blurred in many corporations today. Makes you look at the latest investigations like Fannie Mae with a new eye. Also recommend When Genius Failed. Similar enjoyable learning experience of investing within the context of a greed scandal story.
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- Philo
- 01-09-15
A worthwhile addition to my Enron library
This is maybe the sixth book I have read on Enron. Full disclosure: I am an aficionado, fan and amateur scholar of the Enron story. This one (for readers who already have a basic grasp of the narrative) has its own useful and illuminating angles and facts, large and small. Sherron Watkins' personalized journey through the company helps show the nervous, semi-entrepreneurial kind of path many felt they must follow, to be linked to the personalities and the "action" where advancement and even survival could be found. On occasion, the personal trivia veered into the stupid -- ski and paintball encounters and such. But I guess this shows some of the silly juvenile trash that I am given to understand still permeates the halls of many corporations, as team- and spirit- building exercises. Apparently the cheerleaders still stalk the halls of business. But these sidetracks are mercifully short, and the discussion often touches (if simplified, then comprehensibly) on quite substantive matters -- some details of accounting devices used to puff up revenues and hide debt, and the legalities of entering, say, retail electricity sales in multiple states. Then, too, we get a good portrait of the principals' (Skilling's and Fastow's, particularly) reactions to such obstacles, as mere technicalities to be creatively overcome. And there, the story is quite current, in view of globalized corporations' armies of numbers and law personnel brainstorming to "arbitrage" every such obstacle. Some of this is a natural (and not necessarily always nefarious) part of doing business -- creativity IS often about stretching existing boundaries and obstacles. And sometimes the legalities ARE sketchy. Of course, Enron became a caricature and a cartoon of this, as is skillfully laid out here. The narration is clear, punchy and quite suitable.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Gudmundur
- 09-17-04
Power Failure
Incredible well written,well researched and well read story.
It is shocking and at the same time incredibly interesting to go into depth in this true story which left so many without retirement due to few extremely greedy ignorant persons,like Ken Lay and wife,shopping so much in Franch, that most of the staff flying on ,,one of the ,, Enrons privat jet,had to take commercial airliner back home.(What a shame).
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- BTNRN
- 09-14-22
Fascinating story
The story was fascinating, and as always with things Mimi Swartz does it was a story well told. The narrator was mostly okay but her pronunciation of some words was so jarring it was detrimental to the story. She pronounced Conoco wrong as well as Koch and multiple other words. It was very distracting.
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- Patricia
- 03-22-13
Unless you are really really hooked on Enron...
This was my third-in-a-row Enron book, so maybe I was just over it by then, but although it was an interesting perspective, it didn't add much to either Conspiracy of Fools, in my opinion the best, or The Smartest Guys in the Room, which did make some of the financial dealings a little easier to understand. It took me until the second section to get resigned to the narrator - it made sense to have a female narrator and maybe she actually sounded like Sherren - but she was definitely trying (way too hard) to emphasize things that were really not that exciting and did nothing to add to the story. Stick with stopping at two unless...
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- John
- 02-12-13
Enron still facinates
This is my third Enron book and I thought it was excellent. More insight than the Smartest Guys in the Room and Watkins was there for the whole disgusting charade. Well worth the time for anyone interested in the Enron debacle.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Claire
- 03-09-09
Absolutely Spellbinding.
OUTSTANDING. Incredibly well researched and solidly written in a way that informs, but doesn't financially overwhelm. I cannot recommend it highly enough and urge anyone interested in this story, to purchase it. You will find it enthralling, educational, unbelievable and plain addictive. It is brilliant.
Brian, I note that you gave the book just one star stating that it contained errors of fact.
Whilst I respect your viewpoint; unless you can actually back it up with fact, then your review that could have been really useful, is in fact, worthless.
If there are factual errors, tell us what they are. Are you talking about some major financial details being incorrectly reported? If so, what should they be and why.
For all we know, you might just be talking about that Ken Lay got for Christmas in 1981.
You clearly posted that the book has errors. If so:
1. What ARE the errors you are speaking of? If there are too many to list, just provide us with the top five mistakes, for example.
2. Tell us why you are correct in your views, and convince us to believe you by providing at least some basic factual back up and how the issue should have been reported.
3. Once I have this - I am listening big time.
4. What frustrates me is that you spend 3 minutes posting some flippant and unqualified statements which may have an impact on either its author reader. These feedback reviews are critical to most of us. Yes, it is our right to state our opinion (and thank goodness for it), but without a constructive and informed argument, your words are worse than useless; even if you have some valid points.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Gerarde Sorme
- 04-04-10
Good book, narator is a bit annoying
I didn't mind the material. The narrator is a bit over the top. It would have been much better if the narrator did not show so much emotions in reacting to narrative. This book is much better than the anti-Bush alternative (The Smartest Guys in the Room).
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3 people found this helpful
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- Kevin Christy
- 08-10-04
A Truly Compelling Look at Greed and Arrogance
This excellent, well-researched story lays out in great detail the little corruptions that turn into bigger corruptions, resulting ultimately in a sad story of staggering financial losses not by the fat cats that led Enron, but by their workers for whom Enron was a paycheck and a shot at a nice retirement, not a slot machine. The spirit of greed and arrogance that corrupted Lay, Skilling and Fastow, along with a host of Enron officers and the accountants and attorneys who were supposed to be providing adult supervision, should never be allowed to ressurect itself in Corporate America.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Celia
- 06-30-05
Wild Ride
Even if there are some errors (as pointed out by another reader), the big picture is a truly wild ride from a soaring beginning to a train wreck of an ending. I was fascinated by this story and still can't fathom how seemingly intelligent individuals can evolve into rabid egomaniacs who, without any shred of conscience, cause utter devistation for so many.
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1 person found this helpful