The Smartest Guys in the Room Audiobook By Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind cover art

The Smartest Guys in the Room

The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron

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The Smartest Guys in the Room

By: Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind
Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

What went wrong with American business at the end of the 20th century?

Until the spring of 2001, Enron epitomised the triumph of the New Economy. Feared by rivals, worshipped by investors, Enron seemingly could do no wrong. Its profits rose every year; its stock price surged ever upward; its leaders were hailed as visionaries.

Then a young Fortune writer, Bethany McLean, wrote an article posing a simple question - how, exactly, does Enron make its money?

Within a year Enron was facing humiliation and bankruptcy, the largest in US history, which caused Americans to lose faith in a system that rewarded top insiders with millions of dollars, while small investors lost everything. It was revealed that Enron was a company whose business was an illusion, an illusion that Wall Street was willing to accept even though they knew what the real truth was. This book tells the extraordinary story of Enron's fall.

©2020 Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind (P)2020 Penguin Audio
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A very enjoyable story explaining the collapse of Enron. A failure if controls across the board. Those who were
Everyone was prepared to look the other - as long as there was money to be made.

An excellent summary of a complicated collapse

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